GCSE AQA English Literature Worlds & Lives: In 'A London Thoroughfare'. 2 A.

Question

In 'A London Thoroughfare'. 2 A.M., how does the poet present the speaker's feelings about the city at night?

They have watered the street,
It shines in the glare of lamps,
Cold, white lamps,
And lies
Like a slow-moving river,
Barred with silver and black.
Cabs go down it,
One,
And then another.

Between them I hear the shuffling of feet.
Tramps doze on the window-ledge,
Night-walkers pass along the sidewalks.
The city is squalid and sinister,
With the silver-barred street in the midst,
Slow-moving,
A river leading nowhere.

Opposite my window,
The moon cuts,
Clear and round,
Through the plum-coloured night.
She cannot light the city;
It is too bright.
It has white lamps,
And glitters coldly.

I stand in the window and watch the moon.
She is thin and lustreless,
But I love her.
I know the moon,
And this is an alien city.

November Night, Edinburgh

The night twinkles like ice in glasses.
Leaves are glued to the pavement with frost.
The brown air fumes at the shop windows,
Ties the doors, and slides past.

I gulp down winter raw. The heavy
Darkness swirls with tenements*.
In a brown fuzz of cottonwool
Lamps fade up cargs, die into pits.

Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves.
Scraped up on paths. – I look up, there,
A high roof sails, at the mast-head
Fluttering a grey and ragged star.

The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.
It’s snug and close in the snoring night.
The rug unfolds its bitter scent.

*tenements: blocks of flats

In 'A London Thoroughfare' - AQA - GCSE English Literature - Question 7 - 2021 - Paper 1

Worked Solution & Example Answer:In 'A London Thoroughfare' - AQA - GCSE English Literature - Question 7 - 2021 - Paper 1

How does the poet present the speaker's feelings about the city at night?

Introduction

Sense of Isolation

Imagery of Light and Darkness

Mood and Atmosphere

Conclusion

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