With reference to the three texts you have studied, discuss how individuals are alienated in the urban

landscape
In London, the institutions of the urban environment are seen to be creating a sense of alienation within the population by causing their extreme poverty. The opening description of charterd street instantly calls to mind private ownership, commerce and laws that repress freedom. This repression is even carried through to the Thames, which should be a free, natural entity. The alliterative phrase marks of weakness, marks of woe highlights that the population is a victim of extreme poverty which has left physical scars behind. The anaphora of every in the second stanza; and the highly rhythmic, end-stopped rhythm further evokes a sense of a formal society bound by mind-forgd manacles. It is the plight of the Chimney-sweeper in the third stanza that emphasizes the culpability of the institutions in the society. In the 18th century, when the poem was written, child labour was prevalent and chimney sweeps were most often boys who were so poor that they had to work in order to survive. Black asserts that their plight appalls or indicts the church, and the double entendre of appalls reinforces our own shock that this would occur. The metaphor of the blackning Church is also ironic, because it is an image that is generally associated with purity. The role-reversal in that the chimney sweep is the physically black character, but the Church is morally black is also indicative of how the situation in which the poor have been born into is not one of their making, but is instead created by the society in which they live and the institutions which govern it. In this poem, the individuals in this society are alienated by the overwhelming poverty in which they live and the lack of opportunity given them to assist them in climbing out of this. This theme is also present in Stephen Spenders An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum. In this poem, Spender also chooses to focus on the young victims of poverty and again assigns the blame for this situation to the wealthier inhabitants of the urban environment. The simile comparing the children to rootless weeds indicates that they are neglected by and do not belong to wider society. The metaphorically paper-skinned boy and his compatriot with twisted bones are images which are disturbing to imagine in a classroom setting and this juxtaposition emphasizes the very wrongness of their existence in any society. The feelings of alienation felt by the students is evoked by the lines Shakespeare is wicked and the map a bad example. Both of these sentiments are foreign to the reader, who is integrated into society, but to these children, they are so removed from what these symbols represent that they are damaging and destructive. Spender asserts that the donations from wealthier patrons of the school are simply tempting them to steal, because there is no opportunity for them to attain these ideals otherwise. However, this will further alienate the children

from society by making them not only poor, but criminals who have violated the societal code. In this urban landscape, again, the children are alienated from the greater society by their poverty and the lack of opportunity for improvement or progress. This initial alienation is simply compounded by the contrast between the sun and love available to the upper classes. Emotional alienation is also prevalent in the urban environment, as the pace and strictures of life often do not allow for the free expression of emotion. In Les Murrays An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow, the reaction to the man who dares to express his emotion shows how foreign this idea is to modern residents of cities. The imagery of traffic banked up in George Street give the reader an image of a city that stands still at the shocking sight of a man weeping. The crowds that come hurrying, pointing liken this spectacle to a sideshow seen at a carnival, the people who are staring at the man think that by weeping he has given up his right to act with dignity and therefore it is acceptable to stare at him. However, this is not the case, as the repeated phrase dignity of weeping asserts. In allowing free reign to his emotion, the man is actually reinforcing his dignity and in weeping like a man he is asserting the glory of human emotion. The inhabitants of the city are shown to be shocked by this; they picture a halo of force, a supernatural influence that explains the surprising sanctity of this action. However, in the utter normalcy of what the man has done lies its impact. His actions are not described as very grand, he is simply weeping. But the reactions of those around him show the true impact that unguarded emotion has, those around him recieve the gift of weeping and become believers. In this poem, the shock created by the weeping man indicates how individuals in the urban environment have become conditioned against the display of deep, unguarded emotion and thus are shocked. This emotional alienation is also present in London. The youthful Harlot who curses her baby is an example of how the pressures of survival can blot out the natural instincts of humans to love and care for their children. The Harlot herself is nothing more than another young victim of society. She is forced by limited opportunity and poverty to turn to a job that allows men to exploit her and which is neither financially secure nor safe. The Infant to her, is simply an unwanted consequence of this job and is also a liability and an extra mouth to feed. Practical considerations of survival mean that she is not allowed to love the child whom she has borne but instead she curses it. The sibilance of curses is very evocative for the reader; it is a harsh sound that mimics the harshness of her action. This lack of care or love for the tear of the infant, in itself an emotional expression, further reinforces the idea that emotion is not wanted in this society and that from an early, even new-born age, the populace is taught that. It seems unnatural for a mother not to want to love her child and this highlights how unnatural this society is. Despite all the previous images of poverty and deprivation that the poet has seen, the one he sees but most is this disturbing image of a woman cursing her young child, showing it is not an isolated phenomenon. In this poem, the lack of emotional closeness is seen to be a thing of necessity and causes alienation

between mother and child. It is also a representation of the greater emotional alienation present in all levels of society. The urban landscape can be a place where the lack of beauty and nature can create a sense of alienation and hopelessness in its population. In An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Spender explores the relationship between the urban environment and the beauty of nature. The children are said to learn in a classroom with sour cream walls. The metaphorically rancid and spoiled nature of their environment evokes a sense that they are living in a rubbish heap. This impression is further evoked with the metaphor of a slag heap. This term for a pile of industrial refuse is inextricably linked with the Industrial Revolution, which brought about the growth of the urban environment, but also brought about the growth of slum environments such as the one in which the children live. Spender compares their windows to the belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley shown them in the classroom and says this negative comparison only increases the sense of isolation they feel by living in a narrow street sealed in with a lead sky. However, in the last stanza of the poem, Spender expresses hope that the children could break out of poverty through the help of a proper education and proper patrons. Here, the place into which the children will go is described as a naturalistic utopia. The gold sands and green fields are a stark contrast to the repetitive fog to endless night that the children previously lived in. The lack of nature in the urban environment is a metaphor for the lack of opportunity available and Spender uses the visual setting of an urban jungle to explain that the isolation felt by the children is as much from living in a hopeless place as from being in a hopeless situation.