"On the Rapid Expansion of the Suburbs"

In John Thelwall’s critique of urban sprawl “On the Rapid Extension of the Suburbs,” a sense of conflict between nature and man’s construction is conveyed through the somewhat rebellious use of antiquated style, an unconventional rhyme scheme, and the juxtaposition of light and dark images.

While the poem itself addresses a subject that was at the time of its writing a current issue, Thelwall chose to express his disgust at accelerated residential development in a sonnet, an old-fashioned form, and one that traditionally focused on the subjects of love as well as the divine. This presents a statement of defiance for the modern engine of man’s encroachment on ancient nature. He reinforces this contrast with allusions to classical mythology, deifying aspects of nature while adding to the archaic tone in his mentions of nymphs, Phoebus, and Dian.

Although the form and style of the poem represent a stand against the suburban development, the rhyme scheme reveals another side of the conflict. The scheme is very unconventional, with the octet seeming in a way to impose on the sestet through the use of the “A” end sound in the first and last lines of the sestet as well as throughout the octet. This blurs the line between the octet and sestet, and illustrates through the rhyme scheme how in real life the towns and buildings are creeping into nature’s territory, disregarding any previous boundaries. This begins to erode any hope that may have been infused in Thelwall’s initial defiant choice of a classically romantic and old-fashioned poetic form.

This hope further dwindles toward the end of the sonnet when a series of conflicting light and dark images are used to portray the two-faced nature of the construction and development, which ultimately ends in the darkness of man’s conquest of the natural environment. Nature is associated in the poem with softer light, with shade and with the celestial bodies, whereas the buildings are associated with harsher extremes of light and dark. At first, words like “flaunting beam,” “shadeless,” and “glaring” are used to describe the façades of the buildings, mocking their outward display of light. Then, an image is presented of a pure stream that used to run under the sun and moon but has been trapped by the urban development in a dark gutter and made to serve the opulence of society by sweeping “the waste of luxury away,” thus showing urban progress’s true face.

These elements ultimately portray a conflict between nature’s beauty and man’s will, a force that may be defied but which is in fact inexorable. The initial display of rebellion achieved by the poem’s form and style is subtly countered by the rhyme scheme and defeated by the triumph of false light and the darkness that closes the sonnet. This progression provides parallel symbolism for the real-life subject the Thelwall is addressing through the sonnet.