William Blake's "London" and Octavio Paz's "The Street" both use streets as symbols. Blake analyzes the traits of the different social groups on an everyday encounter while out on the streets, whereas Paz's poem encompasses the feelings of a man on a particular journey down a street.  This is just one of many similarities in the two poems.  Both poems exude an intimate feeling of discontent, yet both are for very different reasons.  Blake's poem deals with the external conflict of a politically unstable London, while Paz's poem deals more with the internal conflict the narrator experiences as a result of low self worth.  One may not catch some of the obvious similarities and differences in these two poems if not looking with a critical eye.  There are many aspects of a poem to look at when trying to...