Paintings in "In a London Drawingroom"
Paintings play a key function in bringing George Eliot’s message across providing tangible feelings and principles in the poem.
In a London Drawingroom uses concrete imagery giving the reader descriptive scenery to imagine. It shows as an alternative the readers what is happening instead of just telling it. This creates a very vivid and commanding influence in the readers’ mind.
Imagery in "In a London Drawingroom"
The lack of rhyme in the poem further creates the sense of everything now not going on well. The strength of the poem undoubtedly lies in its abundance of imagery.
There are two types of imagery which can be discerned in George Eliot’s In a London Drawing Room. Firstly, there are direct pictures which directly relate to the choice of words by way of George Eliot, the city’s regular repetitious architecture in the city renders the context unappealing and tedious. The poet additionally constructs open imagery, for example "far as the eye can stretch/Monotony of surface & of form/Without a break to hang a guess upon." The use of short sentences in the poem also inundates the reader with images which are filled with potent and descriptive words. The speaker also uses these short sentences to express messages such as the way London has become dull and dreary. George Eliot uses this technique not only to describing objects but also to imbue them with multiple new meanings.
Symbolism in "In a London Drawingroom"
The powerful use of symbol and symbolism in the poem adds to the effect of the images and provides manifold levels of meaning which the reader can interpret. The poem In a London Drawingroom has an unenthusiastic title that gives the reader a pessimistic impression. The preposition "In a" produces this sense of confinement and captivity which is greatly depressing. The title further instantly lets the reader know that the speaker is someone residing in London or at the least has very wide knowledge about London because they speak from a "Drawing-room" perspective. The focus of the poem is the speaker’s observation from a drawing room where the speaker describes what they see as well as their thoughts about the view, the city as well as its people. Symbolism plays a central role because of the way it is used depict life in London. "The world seems one huge prison-house and court/Where men are punished at the slightest cost/With lowest rate of colour, warmth and joy". These symbols give a compelling idea of what living in London may entail.
Tone in "In a London Drawingroom"
The tone used, which is the same throughout the poem and does not shift, creates a pessimistic and gloomy mood same tone throughout poem. The tone "In a London Drawing-room" seems to pluck out every fault in London while emphasizing the notion of "multiplied identities" as well as "one huge prison house" which in consideration are very dismal ideas, such as when the speaker says "The sky is cloudy, yellowed by the smoke. 'solid fog' No bird can make a shadow as it flies, For all is shadow as in ways o'erhung By thickest canvass, where the golden rays Are clothed in hemp. No figure lingering Pauses to feed the hunger of the eye Or rest a little on the lap of life." The poet's attitude and expression toward London is not only solemn but also ironic. The tone George Eliot uses in In a London Drawingroom controls the poem’s overall mood in the sense of a suffusing bleak atmosphere intended to influence the readers' emotional response in a unwelcoming and drab manner. The tone has succeeded in fostering desolate expectations all through the poem.
