"London's Summer Morning"

Alice Hang
Dis. 1B Fridays 11-12pm

“London’s Summer Morning”
Written by Mary Robinson
Pg. 69 Volume D

Remember that in this time, that there was the relocation of London as the center of European and World Trade. The city is bustling. There are few rich people and a lot of impoverished people living in the city of London.

Summary of poem: This poem is about workers toiling in busy London. It moves from one lowly position to the next. It talks about the new gadgets and trinkets available from trade. Contrary to popular belief that London is beaming with opportunities, trading, and fortune, it is busy with workers working very hard to earn a living.

Robinson describes and handles the new London with a series of contrasts. It contrasts the exciting new things available to London by trade with the poor working and living conditions of its poor people. She does it with a total absence of moral judgment. There is subtle and implicit judging. She puts the burden on the reader to make his or her own interpretations about what the city of London has become. She keeps the poem in the present with the word “now.”