In this essay I am going to compare the poems "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3,1802" by William Wordsworth and "London" by William Blake.
William Blake and William Wordsworth were both romantic poets. This did and does not mean that they wrote poems about love but romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.
William Blake was born in London into a working class family in 1757. His father was a successful London hosier and his mother worked at home as was common at the time. Blake's father encouraged Blake's artistic talents and in 1767 Blake was sent to Henry Par's Drawing School. After a few years his father couldn't afford to keep Blake at Henry Par's Drawing School. Therefore his father apprenticed Blake to the engraver James Basire at the age of 14. In 1783, Blake married Catherine Boncher.
Wordsworth on Helvellyn
English: Plaque at 28 Broadwick St, London. It was...
The artist and poet William Blake, who lived in He...Blake taught Catherine how to draw and she assisted Blake devoutly. Blake never overcame poverty but he left no debts at his death in 1827.
By contrast William Wordsworth was born in the country, in the Lake District into a middle-class family 23yrs later in 1770. His father was the attorney to Sir James Howther. He loved nature and the landscape of the Lake District gave him a great imagination. Wordsworth lost his mother when he was eight and only five years later his father passed away. Domestic problems separated Wordsworth from his beloved but neurotic sister who was very important to Wordsworth. With help of his uncles he was able to enter a local school. He then continued his education at Cambridge University. Wordsworth went to France and to Switzerland. On his second visit to France he had an affair and had an illegitimate daughter,