London’s Summer Morning
(Summary)
In “London’s Summer Morning,” Mary Robinson contradicts the positive and
negative connotations of the beauty and chaos in the typical London morning.
Robinson describes the chaotic environment of the mornings in London. She
introduces the poem with negative words such as, “sooty, dingy, hot, and
noisy” to present a chaotic setting and give the reader a sense of the mood of
the poem. However, Robinson changes her word choice to a positive mood
with words such as, “cools, splendor, glittering, and gay” to present the positive
aspects of the streets of London. Despite Robinson’s choice to start and end the
poem with negative connotations, she has an underlying argument that explains
the beautiful consumerism that takes place in the chaotic nature of the mornings
in London.
Published in 1800 in the newspaper, “London’s Summer Morning” by Mary
Robinson portrays a typical beginning of the day on a London street. The poem
written in blank verse places the reader on the street with the sounds and sights
of daily life ringing through in the poem.
The poem is a virtual kaleidoscope for the reader depicting the enterprising
shopkeepers as they show their wares off behind their huge glass frontages. The
movement and sounds of a business street with all that it entails is aptly
presented. The poet’s use of imagery creates the mental image of a typical day
in 1800 as a prospective buyer proceeds down the crowded streets of London.
The poem uses a third person point of view to narrate the poem for the reader.
The setting is a busy London business street on a hot summer morning.
The poet describes what sounds would pervade the apartment room above a
busy street to awaken one every day: Robinson engages our senses with
unrelenting street sounds, sights, and smells:
“Who has not wak’d to list the busy sounds…”
Employing an auditory image for each of the work places, the poet identifies the
citizens of the street. These are the sounds and later the sights that wake her
every morning: the noisy commerce on business street.
The sooty chimney-boy shrilly crying out for work…One can almost hear his
calling for chimneys to clean.
The wagons and carts stir up a cloud of dust which covers everything on the
street
The poetess recalls the sharp and noisy sounds of the tin men,
the knife-grinders, and the cork-cutters
Appealing to the nose, there are fruit sellers and vegetable venders displaying
and crying out their new crops and the pastries dainties waiting behind the glass
The shops find the people peering into the windows looking for bargains or
searching for a prize.
Now the sun
Darts burning splendour on the glittering pane,
Save where the canvas awning throws a shade
On the day merchandize. Now, spruce and trim,
In shops… Sits the smart damsel; while the passenger
Peeps through the window
…The sun comes out and the insects hum
The lamp lighter prepares the lamps for the evening time
The pot boy who cleans the wares for the maids sounds out his trade… the old
clothes man who collects and sells the throw away clothes
Sometimes the goods have been stolen.
A porter carries his goods for someone along the hot pavement.
The poet awakens from her dreams to paint the morning sounds and sights in
the words of her poem.
