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“London, London, London town,You can toughen up or get thrown around.” ― Kano
“One thing about London is that when you step out into the night, it swallows you.”
― Sebastian Faulks, Engleby
“This was London, in all its filth and glory. Nostalgic for the past, while yearning to cast off the chains of bygone ages and step forward into the bright utopia of the future. Proud of its achievements, yet despising its own flaws. A monster in both size and nature, that would consume the unwary and spit them out again, in forms unrecognizable and undreamt.
"London, the monster city”
― Marie Brennan, With Fate Conspire
London in literature
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Medieval times
1.3. Renaissance
1.4. The Enlightenment
1.5. Romanticism
1.6. The Victorian period
1.8. Conclusion
1.9. References
1.1. Introduction
"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." This famous words spoken by Samuel Johnson indicated that the capital of the Great Britain provided everything a layman wanted, so there were no people who would leave this city. Besides, not only did it play an important role in the Britain’s history, but it was also prosperous and its economy grew constantly. Being a huge and prosperous city, London was an inspiration for numerous writers over six centuries, including Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens and many more authors (Masters, Fallon & Maric, 2010). This essay will show that London was such an influential city through history that its depiction was left in almost every period. Its image will vary depending on the epoch and will indicate how this city changed.
1.2. Medieval times
First depiction of London in literature was provided by Becket’s biographer William Fitz-Stephen in Descriptio Londoniae (Ackroyd, 2000). He wrote it in the form of urban panegyric because thriving cities and their citizens were of the interest to Europe. He portrayed the sounds of the mills and the screams and calls of the merchants. Countless wine shops were situated near the Thames and were visited by the local artisans and traders who came to the docks (Ackroyd, 2000). A spacious “public eating-house” was built where servants could acquire food for their masters or where the merchants could sit and consume their meals. The city was louder than it is nowadays (Ackroyd, 2000). All in all, constant cries of vendors and sounds of bells filled the city. Besides, smell from taverns, and various buildings in which food and other items were produced covered London.
In his portrayal of London Fitz-Stephen focused on the energy, pugnacity and liveliness of its residents (Ackroyd, 2000). Sports were popular and people played football games every evening. London was regarded as an aggressive city even in regard to sports. What is more, the twelfth century was a time of wealth and development. The author showed that the trade was expanding, as the docks were made bigger to keep merchants and ships from many countries. The majority of London residents took part in the trade. Hence, this city consisted of very active people who liked to play sports and engage themselves in business. Being the first to describe the capital of Great Britain, William Fitz-Stephen described it as a wealthy and growing city full of active residents (Ackroyd, 2000). He provided a detailed image of London, including the buildings, the sounds of people and smells that came from various places. This description was unique, since it was a source for scholars that can restructure what the city was at that time. William Fitz-Stephen was a biographer who provided a positive portrayal of London.
The next writer who depicted London was Geoffrey Chaucer. In his work Canterbury Tales (Masters, Fallon & Maric, 2010) he described the city from the point of view of pilgrims who were going to Canterbury. They decided to gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, as illustrated by Figure 1. This auberge was one of the best at that time (Boynton, 1913). It had a spacious courtyard with balconies that were one of the ways of reaching sleeping-rooms. During the dinner people did not talk with each other, but they just ate their food.
Figure.1. The Tabard Inn in Southwark (from a nineteenth-century engraving). Source: http://pages.towson.edu/
Unfortunately, the inn was burnt in 1676 (Masters, Fallon & Maric, 2010). But there is a plate which still stays in its place. Moreover, Chaucer in his work presented various characters. They had different social origins. The author introduced the most crucial characters of the story: a Monk, a Friar, a Nun and her three Priests, a Summoner, a Pardoner, a Parson, and the Prioress, who were the representatives of the church (Boynton, 1913). The church at that time was so influential and wealthy that it is not surprising that he presented so many characters connected with this institution. To conclude, Chaucer portrayed London as a city in which the pilgrimages took place and as a highly Christian.
1.3. Renaissance
During the era of Renaissance William Shakespeare (see Figure 2) was one of the most popular writers and he depicted London in various way. Being the famous author of plays, sonnets and narrative poems, he contributed to the history of English literature. It is unknown when Shakespeare first visited London (Crawforth, Dustagheer & Young, 2014). However, by 1592 it was claimed that he lived and worked in this city, from time to time visiting his family in Stratford. London was the place in which he became popular, creating his best works. This city is a basis for this writer’s invention. He often made indirect allusions to the capital of Great Britain (Crawforth, Dustagheer & Young, 2014). Although his works were set in such places as Venice or Padua, one could feel the size, loudness, smell and other characteristics of London.
Figure 2. The picture of William Shakespeare. Source: http://shakespeare.mit.edu
Hence, in his play entitled Henry V, Shakespeare presented short vision of London by Henry. When he comes closer to the capital city he says:
But now behold,
In the quick forge and working-house of thought,
How London doth pour out her citizens!
The mayor and all his brethren in best sort.
Like to the senators of the antique Rome,
With the plebeians swarming at their heels,
Go forth and fetch their conquering Caesar
(Shakespeare, Henry V, p. 102).
Shakespeare compared “the mayor and all his brethren”, meaning aldermen and City Fathers to “the senators of the antique Rome” (Crawforth, Dustagheer & Young, 2014), so he made them prestigious and ascribed high status. But, in the last line the playwright presented King Henry in the negative light, comparing him to Caesar. Furthermore, Shakespeare added people from lower classes – “plebeians swarming at their heels.” In presenting London, the playwright did not omit to include poor people, as cities did not belong solely to nobles (Crawforth, Dustagheer & Young, 2014). To conclude, his London was a city of constant action, which housed “citizens,” “senators,” “plebeians” and “conquering Caesar.” In addition, the noise of the city was as persistent as the sound produced by swarm of insects.
Another depiction of London in Renaissance was showed by remarkable sixteen-century antiquary named John Stow (Ackroyd, 2000). He was a Londoner by birth (Morris, 2013). His father provided lamp-oils and candles to churches in the pre-reformation time. Stow was born in 1525 and at first he became a tailor. He provided the most detailed and vibrant account of Tudor London in his Survey of London, as presented by Figure 3 (Ackroyd, 2000). Stow presented London as a growing city, in which new streets and buildings were being built. Besides, he often pointed out the existence of great houses “of old time built upon arched vaults, and with gates of stone” that come from the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Ackroyd, 2000). Most of the constructions from earlier period had been destroyed in order to modernize them. The Reformation of faith, initiated by Henry VIII, caused a sudden change upon the buildings and the beliefs of London (Ackroyd, 2000). People broke a connection with the Roman communion, and became confused and insecure and as a result the monasteries, chantry chapels and lady chapels were plundered or destroyed. Hence, he stated that London was a city of ruined buildings. Stow mentioned that the remnants of an “old court hall” in Aldermanbury Street were rebuild into “employed as a carpenter’s yard” (Ackroyd, 2000, p. 87). The ancient ditches that people used to guard and as a place for waste were now covered. London had also its main roads paved and renewed. For instance, Stow claimed that the road to Aldgate was “not only fully replenished with buildings outward” but “also pestered with divers alleys on either side to the bars.” (Ackroyd, 2000, p. 88). To sum up, this antiquary presented London as a city which was being rebuild. Old buildings and constructions were replaced by the new ones or were modernized. Although this city was full of ruins, because of construction works, it was to become renewed and full of paved roads and to lose all connections to earlier times.
Figure 3. The cover of John Stow’s Survey of London. Source: http://theshakespeareblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/stow-survey.jpg
1.4. The Enlightenment
During this epoch London’s golden age initiated. There was a famous writer named Samuel Johnson, the author of articles and poems (McLachlan, 2007). He also wrote the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Although dictionaries had already been there, Johnson included more detailed derivations of words. He published anonymously his poem entitled London: A poem in imitation of the third satire of Juvenal, as illustrated by Figure 4 (McLachlan, 2007). This poem was an imitation of Satire III of the Roman satirist, Juvenal (Folkenflik, 2014). What is more, this poem showed London in a negative and grim way (“Johnson in London,” 2009). London was the most vigorous work that criticized tyranny and persecution (Varney, 1989). It was a political poem, which displayed and led to the change in political atmosphere. This satire showed the society that had traits that would cause their own destruction. Johnson pointed out that people were two-faced, selfish and misleaded (Varney, 1989). What is more, Varney (1989) showed that the damage inflicted to London was seen as an injury to people’s unity. The city was overthrown, so it did not provide any economic or tangible security for its residents. However, it did not provide mental safety. Johnson showed London as a city full of “collective madness” (Varney, 1989, p. 211). The poem’s speaker was not a sensible bystander. He talked about London in a negative way. Taking everything into consideration, Samuel Johnson in his poem presented London as a city of insanity, which was closely connected to its residents.
Figure 4. London, a Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal. Source: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/exhibits/johnson/london/2_2.cfm
1.5. Romanticism
London during Romanticism was portrayed by William Blake in his poem entitled simply London (see the poem in Figure 5 below). This author was born on 27th November 1757 and died in 1857 (Bräuer, 2008). This made him the viewer of the industrialization of London. Thus, in his poem London, the city was depicted as gloomy, discouraging and critical (Bräuer, 2008). The speaker described the city as unclean and “blackening”(v. 10).
Figure 5. William Blake Songs of Experience, London 1794 Copy F, plate 39 © Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/william-blake/songs-
innocence-and-experience/songs-experience-london
The lyrical “I” claims that it was industrialization that caused the city’s uncleanness “with the factories of the cities casting a pall smoke over vast areas of cheaply built houses and slum tenements” (Bräuer, 2008). Blake pointed out that there existed a huge gap between classes; there lived the “chimney sweepers,” the “hapless soldiers” and the “harlots” in contrast to the clergy and the nobility (Bräuer, 2008). “Palace walls” (v.12) and “blackening church” (v.12) represented priests and aristocratic people. Blake claimed that the church ignored helpless people. Besides, it was behind the great misery, that was indicated shown by alluded to by the handicapped soldiers whose blood was on “palace walls” (v. 12). What is more, the children workers, who cleaned the chimneys, were often harmed or died during their work (Bräuer, 2008). Moreover, it seemed that the life in London was not pleasant as there was no laughter here; only cries, sighs, and swearing (Cherrington, 2010). Hence, he used the repetition of the word “every” to highlight the poor situation of London residents. The city was filthy and to make matters worse, full of blood. The smoke that came from manufactures blackened the church. One could not find happiness there, since only “woe” was heard (Cherrington, 2010). To sum up, Blake presented London as an industrialized city that exploited workers, and besides, he showed a negative side of this city.
Another poet who mentioned London in his work was William Wordsworth, as portrayed in Figure 6. He was born on 7th April, 1770 and died on 23rd April, 1850 (Bräuer, 2008). Similarly to Blake, he was the eye-witness of the industrialization in England and one of the most important Romantic poets. His poem Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 portrayed London as “silent, bare” (v. 5) and very gorgeous in the morning (Bräuer, 2008). One could notice Wordsworth's positive attitude towards the metropolis when he claimed: “Dull would he be of soul who could pass by [a] sight so touching in its majesty” (v. 2f). The poet praised the city as it was “[a]ll bright and glittering in smokeless air” (v. 8) (Bräuer, 2008). The verse “[d]ear God! The very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still” (v. 13f) described London as a city, which is solitary and soundless; however, London could have never been that tranquil, in particular when industrialization took place (Bräuer, 2008).
Figure 6. A painting of William Wordsworth at Wordsworth House, Cockermouth. Photograph: Alamy. Source: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/04/william-wordsworth-stephen-gill-review
Nevertheless the expression “seem asleep" (v. 13) may have explained it, since Wordsworth depicted London in the morning and this could have been the only moment, in which this city would be so quiet. The poet blended nature “[t]he river glideth at his own sweet will” (v. 12) with the city that was created by human beings and its “[t]owers, domes, theatres, and temples” (v. 6). He united two utterly conflicting places: “the industrial city, which depicted the historical circumstances and on the other hand the really beautiful London at this exact moment was seen through the artist's eyes” (Bräuer, 2008). Taking everything into consideration, William Wordsworth showed that London, despite being industrialized, was a beautiful city that could be compared to the nature.
1.6. The Victorian period
One of the writers who described London in this period was Charles Dickens, as shown in Figure 7 (Venkateswaran, 2013). In his book entitled Great Expectations he showed London through the eyes of Pip. At the beginning Pip saw London’s streets and fair. Pip claimed that Smithfield was “[t]he shameful place, being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam,” and seemed “too stick” to him (Venkateswaran, 2013). Smithfield, in which were one of London’s major meat markets, was an utterly repulsive place. The cattle were forced to go to the fair regardless of traffic or time of day, and were killed there. By presenting what the meat market, prison and gallows looked like and their smell, Dickens portrayed the city as a being that did not only lure and ensnare, but consumed flesh for satisfaction and benefit. Dickens also presented the mob in Great Expectations. At Newgate, Pip found a “quantity of people standing about smelling strongly of spirits and beer” (Venkateswaran, 2013). The mob treated court trial as people would treat a theatrical play. A drunk minister proposed Pip the best seat in the courtroom. The mob was not only a violent mass. They became vindictive, enjoying sufferings of others (Venkateswaran, 2013). The judge was a ringmaster, similar to a Caesar who dominated the Coliseum, and whose caprice could decide whether a defeated gladiator would live or die to satisfy the audience’s lust for violence. Hence, prisons and slums were to some degree similar: the prisons kept “the criminally poor”; the slums “the merely poor” (Flanders, 2012, p. 123). In Great Expectations Dickens showed that pubs apart from serving drinks, provided other, unexpected services. For instance, when Magwitch was caught by the police on the river, he and Pip were made to go to a pub, in which Pip acquired clothes, so that Magwitch would not have to walk in wet outfit (Flanders, 2012). Taking everything into account, Dickens showed London in a negative way, as a city that devoured the flesh of people in order to give pleasure and profits for others. Moreover, there lived a poor group of human beings who only wanted to satisfy their bloodlust, and prisons and slums were the places where poor people resided.
Figure 7. Charles Dickens circa 1850 by Herbert Watkins. Photograph: Herbert Watkins. Source: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/02/charles-dickens-life-tomalin-review
Another writer who described London was Arthur Conan Doyle (see Figure 8). He decided to place Sherlock Holmes in London, since crime rates had escalated there during this period (Hekhuis, 2008). To Conan Doyle London was a city in which good and evil coexisted. In the series about the well-known detective, London was depicted as a city that permitted lawbreaking.
Figure 8. Young Arthur Conan Doyle. Source: http://www.conandoyleestate.co.uk/index.php/tag/arthur-conan-doyle/
The London that was civilized and the vile and intriguing London were opposed in his novels and short stories. Hekhuis (2008) states that during the Victorian period people committed more offences, as mist and lack of light helped them to hide. This was taken into account by Conan Doyle and mentioned in his novels. Because of the fog that was produced in the city, London was negatively perceived (Hekhuis, 2008). For instance, once Holmes and Watson left the capital of the Great Britain so as to find a culprit on the countryside. It was then, when Watson cried “with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street,” since they would finally be free from the smog (Hekhuis, 2008). What is more, London could be viewed as a city that permitted lawbreaking, as its topography was so complex that it could be called a labyrinth. The city expanded to large extent while no plans were made and, as a result, inhabitants of London could be confused and lose their way. Ackroyd (2000, p. 21) stated that the city “[could] not be conceived in its entirety but [could] be experienced only as a wilderness of alleys and passages, courts and thoroughfares, in which even the most experienced citizen [might have lost] the way.” This could be seen in the novels. Watson often mentioned it when he and Sherlock walked across London, by saying that they went “through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets” (Hekhuis, 2008). All streets and passages created a huge maze, and that was an obstacle that often hindered pursuit of criminal by Holmes and Watson. Nevertheless, Sherlock Holmes knew this city very well, as he had explored all places of London: those that belonged to affluent and those which were resided by the poor (Hekhuis, 2008). He told Watson in The Red-headed League that it was his hobby to know London perfectly. To conclude, London presented by Arthur Conan Doyle was a gloomy city that gave opportunity to commit crimes. Factors that contributed to that were fog and complicated topography of London.
During this period Virginia Woolf (see Figure 9) provided a portrayal of London in her novel entitled Mrs Dalloway. She presented it as a symbol of human minds and existence of this city was closely related to the individuals (Tromanhauser, 2004). She compared topography of the city to the awareness of human beings. Woolf “dug into” particular past of characters of her novel which, as a result, were as complexly connected as the network of the London’s tube (Tromanhauser, 2004).
Figure 9. The photo of Virginia Woolf. Source: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/
Moreover, Penda (2013), stated that there was a connection between portrayal of the city and depiction of minds. Thus, public and private lives could not be separated. This indicated that people could not live in privacy and Clarissa’s pondering about the need for the seclusion of soul was pointless. Hence, if one took into consideration the link between the private and the public and that majority of the novel’s action took place on the valleys of London, the city and its residents became an existence that could not be separated (Penda, 2013). All in all, London in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway was a city that represented the complexity of human minds. It was a city that was unified with its inhabitants.
Another author who undertook the task of portraying London in the twentieth century was T.S. Eliot (see in Figure 10). In his poem called Waste Land Eliot provided a thorough image of London along with its civilization (Page, n.d.). The poet achieved it partially by listing geographical places that were in London. For instance, “Queen Victoria Street” (line 258), “Richmond” (line 294), “The Strand” (line 258), “King William Street” (line 66), “The Cannon Street Hotel” (line 213) and “London Bridge” (line 427). Besides, Eliot showed that “life went on” in spite of hardships (Page, n.d.). This was visible in his depiction of “work” which was unproductive and pointless. He presented this through the symbolism of the crowd that “flowed over London Bridge” (line 62):
so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine (lines 62-68).
Figure 10. T. S. Eliot in 1954. The State Historical Society of Missouri. Source: http://shs.umsystem.edu/
historicmissourians/name/e/eliot/index.html
Crawford (2013) also pointed out that working was like a daily pilgrimage by people who were a living death and making allusions to Dante’s Inferno: “I had not thought death had undone so many.” In general, the theme of this was undermining of the present by comparing it to the past. Hence, London was a city that represented western civilization and its degradation; since it was merely one of many ‘falling towers’ (line 374). London was also presented as an unreal city. Although the poet showed real places, he did not focus only on tangible depiction of the capital of the Great Britain. Besides, the poet provided a portrayal of surreal aspects of the city. It was described as a location that was inhabited by lifeless bankers. Cook (2007) maintained that London was one of the cities of destruction. Eliot used Rome to symbolize London and showed the possibility that it might end up as the Roman Empire; that it may collapse. To sum up, T.S. Eliot depicted London in a negative way. For him it was a city full of lifeless bankers and a city that was destined to have the same fate as the Roman Empire.
1.8. Conclusion
London was portrayed by many authors and writes, and perception of this city was different, depending on the epoch. Firstly, in medieval era it was a wealthy and growing city full of active residents and was very Christian, since it housed many churches. Secondly, in Renaissance, London was a city of constant action that housed both the rich and the poor and a city that was being rebuild. Thirdly, in the Enlightenment, it was satirically presented as a city of insanity that was closely connected with its residents. Next, during Romanticism the capital of the Great Britain was as an industrialized city that exploited its workers or a beautiful city that could be compared to the nature, despite its industrialization. Moreover, during the Victorian Era it was a city that devoured the people in order to give pleasure and profits for others or a gloomy city that gave opportunity to commit crimes. Lastly, in the twentieth century, it was a place that represented the complexity of human minds and was destined to have the same fate as the Roman Empire. However, in this work, only few examples of literary works that described London have been presented; still, London is the city that was of great importance and the depiction of this city can be found in many books, poems or plays.
1.9. References
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