In a London Drawing room (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Theme

Evidence

Poet’s intention

Home and heritage

The poem is a 19-line single stanza 

Eliot uses the form of the poem to present the monotony of “shape and form”:

• Eliot suggests an unchanging view of the London streets

There is a clear absence of break in the poem’s form 

This, perhaps, reflects the view: “one long line of wall” :

• It could also mirror the way the people hurry without “lingering”

Eliot’s poem is long and continuous in order to present urban London as relentlessly busy and dull 

Theme

Evidence

Poet’s intention

Disconnected relationships   

Eliot uses blank verse in the poem:

• The lack of rhyming lines contributes to the joyless mood

Eliot’s speaker refers to a lack of imagination in the urban world, as the skyline of wall leaves little in the way of mystery

Iambic pentameter contributes to a repetitive, unchanging rhythm

This could, perhaps, mimic the drudgery of daily life in the city: Eliot suggests that little changes

Eliot uses enjambment, which creates a free-flowing, ceaseless rhythm

As the poem’s lines run into each other, Eliot reflects the disconnected life of the individuals in the city, not pausing to interact or look around

The poem’s structure reflects the speaker’s view of an unchanging, busy and dull city that focuses on haste rather than the joy of life 

Theme

Evidence

Poet’s intention

Relationships with the world 

Eliot contrasts natural imagery with artificial, man-made images: 

• The cloudy sky is unnatural, “yellowed” with pollution
• The “golden rays” of the sun are covered in a thick “hemp”

Eliot draws attention to the changes in her world by commenting on the way the urban world has taken over the natural world

Eliot uses metaphor to suggest the urban world does not satisfy humans:

• She describes how nobody stops to “feed the hunger of the eye”

Here, Eliot refers to the idea that human beings do not thrive in such environments:

Eliot personifies nature as comforting, that one can “rest a little on the lap of life”

The poem focuses on the way the urban world leaves no time for rest and appreciation of life   

Eliot’s comparison of the city to a “prison-house & court” creates a sinister atmosphere

The poem examines the disconnection between individuals in the urban environment as they are punished and restricted

Eliot’s criticism of industrialised London centres around the absence of time to think, imagine or appreciate the joy of life, suggesting the absence of nature in the human world contributes to a harsh and miserable existence

Topic sentence

Both poems explore disconnections between human relationships and the natural world 

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room”

“Lines Written in Early Spring”

Eliot’s speaker notices the way the individuals on the street ignore each other: 

• They “All hurry on & look upon the ground,/Or glance unmarking at the passers by”

Wordsworth’s speaker reflects on the way humans treat each other:

• He asks himself “what man has made of man”

Eliot’s speaker is pessimistic:

• She ends the poem describing a world in which humans have lost connection with each other: “Where men are punished at the slightest cost”

The speaker’s tone is similarly pessimistic:

• The emotive language suggests his pain at humanity’s lost connection with each other
• He says it “grieved his heart” and he has “reason to lament” 
• He repeats his question, which remains unresolved at the end

Eliot comments on how urbanisation has disconnected humans from the universe: 

• The speaker describes the buildings as “Cutting the sky with one long line of wall” 
• The speaker says this leaves no room for human imagination: “Without a break to hang a guess upon”
• They suggest urbanisation leaves little space for living things: “No bird can make a shadow as it flies”

Wordsworth argues that humans have forgotten a “holy plan”, a sacred connection with the universe: 

• The speaker believes his reflections on humanity are “heaven sent”
• He believes the universe and God conspire to warn humans

Both “In a London Drawing Room” and “Lines Written in Early Spring” explore how external worlds impact human beings’ inner lives 

Topic sentence

While Eliot describes an urban setting to comment on its joylessness, Wordsworth describes the beauty of nature to convey how this can bring humanity pleasure

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room”

“Lines Written in Early Spring”

Eliot’s poem describes the lack of harmony on the London streets:

• She describes the urban world as similar to a “huge prison-house & court”
• She refers to the way the street outside her window is restrictive and punitive

In contrast, Wordsworth’s poem describes how living things gain pleasure from harmonious relationships:

• The speaker describes how the “flower enjoys the air it breathes”
• He says he is certain there was pleasure as the “twigs spread out” to “catch the breezy air”

Eliot comments on the way human beings outside her window seem to have lost connection with their world and each other: 

• She says they are “All closed, in multiplied identity”

The speaker personifies “Nature”, representing it as a force that runs through the “human soul” 

Eliot describes the lack of joy in the world she sees: 

• She describes the way “No figure lingering/Pauses to feed the hunger  of the eye/Or rest a little on the lap of life”

In contrast, Wordsworth explores how living things find joy in simple everyday activities: 

• He observes the “thrill of pleasure” as the birds play and hop
• He implies through his sad “lament” that humans may not find similar pleasures in life

While Eliot describes a monotonous and darkened city street, Wordsworth describes a pleasant and tranquil rural setting in order to raise questions about humanity’s relationship with the natural world 

Topic sentence

Both poems are a critique of their environment 

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room”

“England in 1819”

Eliot describes a miserable and dreary London, commenting on the “cloudy” sky and the wall of buildings like “solid fog”

Shelley, too, uses natural imagery to describe England as “tempestuous”:

• He describes the heir to the throne as “mud from muddy springs”

Eliot’s speaker describes their home, London, as full of suffering: 

• The speaker describes the city as a place of punishment: “The world seems one huge prison-house & court”
• The speaker implies the people are not thriving, using a metaphor that alludes to nourishment: “No figure lingering/Pauses to feed the hunger of the eye”

Shelley describes his world similarly: 

• He personifies England to emphasise its weakness, describing it as a “fainting country”
• He uses alliteration to highlight the way the inhabitants suffer: “A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field”

The speakers’ description of their environments suggest their unease and concern as they imply their homeland is a place of punishment and despair

Topic sentence

Both poems comment on the disconnected relationships of those who inhabit their homeland

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room” 

“England in 1819” 

Eliot draws attention to the way the inhabitants of London seem blind to the joy of life or individuality: 

• The speaker describes how the crowds “All hurry on & look upon the ground”
• Eliot refers to the way the people of the city are homogenised and closed-minded: “All closed, in multiplied identity”

Shelley comments on a similar idea, that the inhabitants of England are led by rulers who do not see them as individuals: 

• Shelley describes “Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know” and refers to the citizens as one mass: “A people”

Eliot criticises her world by describing London as punitive and without compassion or joy: 

• She says her world is a place “Where men are punished at the slightest cost”
• She describes the city as having the “lowest rate of colour, warmth & joy”

Shelley’s criticism of England is similarly pessimistic: 

• He describes the “two-edged sword” of justice, implying hypocrisies (double-standards) within the justice system
• He describes the “public scorn” at the country’s monarchy
• Shelley uses a triple to emphasise ideas that his world has lost its morality: “Religion Christless, Godless”

Both poems describe their homeland as corrupted, which in turn corrupts its people as they become embittered

Topic sentence

George Eliot’s “In a London Drawing Room” describes the urbanisation of London, which she suggests brings suffering to its inhabitants, while Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “England in 1819” describes a country made desperate as a result of poor leadership

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room”

“England in 1819”

Eliot offers a gloomy description of London using natural imagery:

• She describes how the sky is blocked by a wall of houses like “solid fog” 
• The buildings obscure the shadows of birds or the “golden rays” of sun

Shelley’s description, while equally gloomy, focuses on the corrupt institutions in the country:

• He uses alliteration to emphasise his bleak view on the monarchy: “the dregs of their dull race”
• Vivid imagery describes the monarchy as parasitic: “leech-like to their fainting country cling”

Eliot goes further, describing urban London’s mundane and dreary environment as restrictive: 

• The “Monotony of surface & of form” leaves little room for individuality or variety
• Eliot suggests an urban world limits the imagination and sense of mystery: “Without a break to hang a guess upon”

Shelley, however, presents a more dramatic and urgent message about his world, using metaphorical language relating to death:

• Shelley refers to the death of the monarchy (a “dying” king) using alliteration for stress: “Till they drop, blind in blood”
• He describes the citizens as “starved and stabbed”
• The poem ends with similarly dramatic metaphor, referring to “graves from which a glorious Phantom may Burst”

Eliot’s poem is a critique of the way industrialisation and urbanisation has made her world bleak and depressing, while Shelley’s poem is a harsh criticism of corrupted institutions that bring death and destruction

Topic sentence

Both poems highlight disconnected relationships as a result of an urbanised world

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room”

“With Birds You’re Never Lonely”

Eliot contrasts the urban environment with natural imagery to convey how the natural world is obscured from view: 

• The speaker compares the wall of houses with “solid fog”
• The speaker describes how the buildings block the sun so that “all is shadow” and “the golden rays/Are clothed in hemp”

Correspondingly, Antrobus compares urban and rural life using contrasting imagery:

• The speaker misses the  “sun-syrupped” and “earthy” trees with “brown and green trunks of sturdiness” of rural New Zealand
• The speaker describes the coffee shop in London using alliteration to highlight the sensory imagery: “Spoons slam, steam rises”

Eliot comments on the way the industrialised world limits humans and creates disconnected relationships:

• The individuals are hidden from view as they rush through the streets: “The wheels are hurrying too, cabs, carriages/All closed, in multiplied identity”
• The speaker uses personification to allude to the comfort of the natural world, which is lacking in London as nobody can “rest a little on the lap of life”

Antrobus's poem, too, considers disconnected human relationships, describing the city environment as joyless and isolating: 

• The speaker personifies the “gray tree” describing it as alone: “for the family they don’t have”

The speaker describes the solitude of London:

• He sees a man “sitting in the corner of the cafe reading alone” 

The poets both comment on the way the natural world offers joy and comfort to humans in comparison to an urban world that is devoid of joy, variety and love

Topic sentence

Eliot’s poem describes a bleak Victorian London at the time of the Industrial Revolution, while Antrobus's poem explores a modern perspective in which a connection to the natural world can still be found in rural communities

Evidence and analysis

“In a London Drawing Room”

“With Birds You’re Never Lonely”

Eliot refers to the changes observed in London during industrialisation:  

• The speaker opens the poem describing the smoke that covered London: “yellowed by the smoke”
• The speaker describes the new transportation, which creates a rush on the streets: “The wheels are hurrying too, cabs, carriages”

Antrobus's poem is set in modern, urban London, opening in a noisy coffee shop:

• He uses sensory imagery to describe the spoons as they “slam” and the “steam” as it “rises”
• Antrobus uses sensory imagery to describe the noise of modern London: “I can’t hear the barista/over the coffee machine”

Eliot’s poem ends without resolution, using a triple to make a grim conclusion about the city: “With lowest rate of colour, warmth & joy.”

Antrobus's speaker finds comfort in the memory of his time in New Zealand:

• The speaker suggests that rural communities remember their connection with the universe
• The speaker explains that lessons are passed down through the generations
• The title of the poem is repeated to remind humans that “with birds you’re never lonely”

Eliot’s poem examines how urbanisation can lead to a busy and joyless life, whereas Antrobus explores the solitude of urban life and the comfort found in traditional, rural worlds