It is the task of Art to mirror contemporary concerns and at the same time rise above them to achieve communication

that has some universal significance. Choose two poems from different periods in this selection and discuss how they express contemporary concerns and also have some universal relevance beyond the period in which they were composed. The Romantics were a group of poets that were concerned with the importance of things such as freedom, the natural world, love and the power of the imagination. Some of them also had a keenly developed social conscience, a trait that is no more evident than in Blakes London, a poem that also deals with the concepts of freedom of thought and preservation of individuality. Blakes vision of his contemporary society is a bleak one. In it, he attacks the lack of imaginative thought that he sees around him, a form of restriction that he seems to blame not just on those who exercised power at that time but also on the general population. The sense of restriction is developed through his use of repetition in words such as every and cry and through his employment of a monotonous, regular rhythm and tightly controlled rhyme scheme. This is backed up by references to the mind-forgd manacles, a metaphor perhaps for the inability of the masses to free themselves through thought. It indicates a type of selfcreated imprisonment of the imagination and/or desire for freedom. It is the second half of the poem which is the more hard-hitting, however. Here Blake develops his attack upon those who should have been acting in the best interests of those who could not fend for themselves. The focus of his attention is the younger people of his time, ranging from the Infant(s) mentioned twice in the poem to the Soldiers and the youthful harlot mentioned in verses three and four. This concern with the welfare of children, especially as childhood was seen as an idyllic time, was another feature of the Romantic period. The pain that they endure is emphasised through the repetition of the word cry and through the more graphic reference to the Soldiers sigh of death. Yet, these responsible institutions do nothing. Particularly disturbing is the reaction of the morally corrupt (blackning) Church which is appalled by the cries that it hears, not in any sympathetic way but because it is disgusted by them. Most sickening are the images contained in the final verse. It would be all too easy to condemn the Harlot here because of the way in which she treats her child. Yet, it seems that her attitudes are unsurprising for a young person caught up in a world where she has not been given the love and attention that she deserves. Having grown up in a loveless world she too has become incapable of love. Her sickness is a psychological one, a sickness that maltreatment and a lack of support have foisted upon her. Yet, she is also a source of sickness, the physical sickness or Harlots curse (venereal disease) that she spreads, probably amongst the sort of men who made key decisions at that time. A similarly bleak view of the world is presented in Thomas Hardys The Darkling Thrush. The bleakness of this poem is largely owing to the time in which it was written. Literature of this era and poetry in particular, tended to paint a rather bleak and pessimistic view of the world. Yet, many of its concerns are still the concerns of people today. At the heart of the poem is a fear of the future, uncertainty about what the century had in store for mankind and a sense of personal, yet universal, lack of faith in any blessed Hope. The writer feels distant from God and that remains the case for many in the modern Christian world. The poets sense of fear is emphasised by his rather bleak portrayal of the landscape in which the poem is set. He describes a spectre grey landscape which for him represents a

bleak future that he sees in front of him. His view of the approaching century is conveyed through his use of words like desolate and broken. Even more eerie is his use of words that we would associate with a Gothic tale. He mentions a corpse, a crypt and being haunted. It is clear that he fears the future and he expresses this fear by using words that relate to the unnatural or supernatural. Hardys use of the song of the bird intensifies this feeling of gloom. Whereas Shelleys Skylark was a cause of joy, Hardys thrush increases his feelings of despair. He recognises the beauty of the song but feels unable to share in its joy. For Hardy, these ecstatic carolings seemed to be evidence of some blessed Hope, a reference perhaps to its knowledge of the existence of God or of an afterlife. Whatever its significance, Hardy feels detached from it, he remains unaware of any reason for hope and stays pessimistic. As I have shown, therefore, both of these poets have produced works that are both of their time and for all time. The ability of both Hardy and Blake to communicate in this way is testimony to their status as two of the most memorable writers in the English Literary Canon. I admire them both immensely.