Two Cities, Two Visions: Understanding London and Hatay Reading Wordsworth’s and Blake’s poems about London made me think deeply about my own experiences in cities, especially my visit to Hatay. Like London, Hatay is full of history, culture, and contradictions. But the way we see a city depends a lot on our own feelings, our cultural background, and even the language we speak. Just like Wordsworth and Blake had different experiences of London, I also had mixed feelings when I walked through the streets of Hatay. When I first arrived in Hatay, early in the morning, the city felt calm and peaceful. The sunlight touched the tops of the old buildings, and the mosques and churches stood quietly in harmony. This reminded me of Wordsworth’s peaceful London at dawn in "Composed upon Westminster Bridge." Wordsworth described the city as wearing the beauty of the morning. That’s how I felt in that moment Hatay looked calm, old, and beautiful, like it was resting before the day began. The river Asi flowed quietly, just like the Thames in Wordsworth’s poem: “The river glideth at his own sweet will.” But as the day went on and I walked deeper into the city, I noticed other things. I saw the marks left by the 2023 earthquake. Some buildings were cracked, some people looked tired and hopeless. I heard conversations full of worry. There were still traces of destruction and suffering. That’s when I felt closer to Blake’s view of London. In his poem "London," Blake talks about the sadness in people’s cries and the "mind-forg’d manacles" the invisible chains created by society. In Hatay, I also felt the weight of problems that were not only physical but emotional and social. It wasn’t just the buildings that were broken, but also the people’s spirits. In Turkish, we often talk about cities like they are people. We have added adjectives like ‘’gazi’’ (veteran), ‘’kahraman’’ (hero), ‘’şanlı’’ (glorious), etc. to them, just as we imagine the homeland as a mother. These words carry deep emotional meanings, unlike the more neutral words used in English. This reflects how culture and language shape how we talk about and feel about our cities. In conclusion, comparing London with Hatay helped me understand that every city has many faces. Like Wordsworth, we may find moments of beauty and peace. Like Blake, we may also feel the weight of sadness and struggle. The poems show us that cities are more than buildings they are full of human feelings, stories, and memories. And our cultural background and language help shape how we see and talk about them. Wordsworth saw beauty because he was standing in the distance, and Blake saw pain because he was walking in it. I think I saw both in Hatay.
