William Blake

‘London’ by William Blake exposes the dreadful realities of the poor who call the city home,
placing particular blame upon the religious and political institutions that have seemingly turned a
blind eye to the horror.

William Blake was one of the greatest artistic and literary geniuses of the 18th and 19th
centuries. Initially unrecognized, William Blake posthumously emerged as a key Romantic poet.

William Blake analyzed the horrors and sorrows of his city as he meandered through the streets.
Surrounded by dejected Londoners, he saw evidence that the British government had too much
power and little interest in helping those they were supposed to serve. To endure 19th-century
England was to be thrust into a restrictive world. Citizens followed an oppressive societal
protocol and those who broke the law suffered under penalty of death.

The speaker of Blake’s poem does not mince words when it comes to ascribing blame to the
government. Through their eyes aided by the poet’s use of vivid imagery the reader is given a
damningly hellish image of the streets of London. One that conveys that colossal sadness and
indignation that the sight stirs within those who witnessed.

London

I wander thro' each charter'd street,

Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldiers sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse

Blasts the new-born Infants tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

Summary

‘London’ by William Blake is a dark and dreary poem in which the speaker describes the
difficulties of life in London through the structure of a walk.

The speaker travels to the River Thames and looks around him. He takes note of the resigned
faces of his fellow Londoners. The speaker also hears and feels the sorrow in the streets; this is
the focus of the final three stanzas. There is a true pain in the hearts of men, women, and
children. The most prominent of those suffering in London’s streets are the prostitutes.‘London’
ends with a fantastical image of a carriage that shuttles love and death together around the city.

Blake paints a lucid portrait of a city gripped by social, political, and economic strife in his
famous poem 'London.' Despite being written over two centuries ago it's lost none of its potency,
immersing the reader and forcing them to walk its hopelessly depressing streets. Relying on both
visual and auditory imagery, Blake leads you by the hand, pointing out with woeful pity all the
dreadful sights and sounds that now reverberate throughout London. As far as laments for once
grand and celebrated cities go 'London' remains a devastating example of poetic social
commentary.

Blake was a nonconformist who associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day,
such as Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft.

These people, like Blake, believed in free thinking and were not the kind to conform to society’s
standards. This poem particularly condemns the stringent rules of society. Blake experienced
some of this firsthand. At one point in his life, he was accused of speaking against the king. The
penalty for this was severe and Blake was distraught over the issue until he was finally acquitted.
It is not surprising that he should revile such a strict government. The words of this poem
condemn every kind of organized religion and government while it reveals the human heart’s
longing for freedom.

Structure and Form

‘London’ by William Blake is a four-stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines, known
as quatrains. These quatrains follow a rhyme scheme of ABAB throughout. The first stanza
explores the sights around the city of London while the following three focus more on the sounds
the speaker can hear. Close readers might notice that the third stanza of the poem is an acrostic,
spelling out the word “HEAR” with each first letter of the first word in every line. Some of the
lines of ‘London’ make use of a metrical pattern known as iambic tetrameter. this can be seen
perfectly in the first three lines of the poem. But, that changes in line four when the speaker is
confronted with the people. The normal walking rhythm of the first lines is interrupted, a way of
referring back to the content in ‘London.’

Literary Devices

In ‘London,’ William Blake makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not
limited to examples of caesura, metaphor, and enjambment. The first of these, enjambment, is a
common formal device that occurs when the poet cuts off a line before the conclusion of a
sentence or phrase. For example, the transition between lines three and four of the first stanza as
well as line four of the second stanza and line one of the third stanza.
Caesurae are pauses in the middle of lines, either due to a break in the meter or the use of
punctuation. For example, line four of the first stanza. It reads: “Marks of weakness, marks of
woe.” Another good example is line three of the second stanza: “In every voice: in every ban.”

Metaphors are a kind of figurative language, one that is quite common in poetry and often helps
to create great examples of imagery. There are numerous examples to be found, especially in
stanzas two and three.

Themes

In ‘London,’ Blake engages with themes of urban life, childhood, and corruption. The latter
relates to both childhood and the broader nature of life in the city. It’s clear from the first lines of
the poem that Blake has a widely negative view of what it’s like to live and work in London. He
is surrounded by misery, mostly due to the way the adult world destroys the innocence of
childhood. These children are in distress throughout their lives, forced to deal with the sins of
their family members and the darkness of the urban streets. The speaker hears pain everywhere
he goes in the city, something that he knows isn’t necessary. The world could be happier and
freer but humanity’s darker side has made that impossible in the city.

Analysis, Stanza by Stanza

Stanza One

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,

Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In the first stanza, the speaker provides the setting and tone. The setting can of course be derived
from the title, but the first stanza also reveals that the speaker is walking down a street. He says
that he “wander[s] down each chartered street”. The term “wander” gives some insight into the
speaker as well. He appears to be not quite sure of himself, and a bit misguided, if not entirely
lost. The use of the term “chartered” also suggests that the streets he walks are controlled and
rigid. He is not walking in a free, open field, but a confined, rigid, mapped-out area. The speaker
will expound upon this idea later on in ‘London’. As he walks, he notices something about the
faces of the people walking by. There seem to be the marks of weariness in them all. He
describes their faces as having “weakness” and “woe”. This sets up the tone as melancholy. The
gloom and the sadness seem to seep from the speaker’s voice as he describes the passersby.

Stanza Two

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

While the first stanza sets up the tone of ‘London’, the second stanza gives some insight into the
speaker’s melancholy feelings toward the people he watches pass him by. The speaker reveals
that from the cry of the newborn infant to the cry of the full-grown man, he hears the “mind
forg’d manacles”. This gives insight into his despairing view of mankind. The “manacles” are
shackles or some kind of chain that keeps a person imprisoned. The fact that these chains are
“mind forg’d” reveals that they are metaphorical chains created by the people’s ideas. The use of
the word “ban” reveals that these manacles are placed there by society. A ban, of course, is a
restriction given by law. The speaker’s use of words such as “Charterd” “ban” and “manacles”
reveal his belief that society metaphorically imprisons people. Suddenly, it becomes apparent
that the thoughts, pressures, and ideals of society are under scrutiny here.

Stanza Three

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldiers sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls

In this stanza of ‘London’, the speaker digs even deeper into the reasons for his feelings toward
humanity. He implies that the shackles worn by the people and inflicted by society have some
disastrous results. He begins with the Chimney sweeper. The Chimney sweeper was one of the
poorest in society. His life expectancy was threatened because of his line of work. He was
consistently dirty and sick. Those of the lowest class were forced into this kind of work to
provide for their families. Then, the speaker criticizes the church, calling it “blackning” and
claiming that even the church “appalls” at the Chimney sweeper. Often, the chimney sweepers
were just children. They were small enough to fit down the chimneys. These children were often
orphaned children, and the church was responsible for them. This explains why the poet ties the
chimney sweepers with the “blackning church”.

The speaker then turns his attention to the “hapless soldier”. He has already criticized society,
pointed out the misfortunes of the poor and the hypocrisy of the church, and now he will also
criticize the government by suggesting that the soldiers are the poor victims of a corrupt
government. He reveals his feelings toward war by describing the blood that runs down the
palace walls. The palace, of course, is where royalty would have lived. Thus, the speaker accuses
the higher-up people in his society of spilling the blood of the soldiers to keep their comfort of
living in a palace.

Stanza Four

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse

Blasts the new-born Infants tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

In the final stanza, the speaker reveals how the corruptness of society attacks innocence. He says
that he hears the “youthful Harlot’s curse…”. The idea of a youthful harlot suggests the level of
poverty and corruption, that a girl who was yet a youth would be involved in prostitution. Then,
things become even more interesting, as the speaker reveals the object of the Harlot’s cursing.
She curses at the tears of a newborn baby. This is the ultimate attack upon innocence. The
speaker does not reveal whether the harlot is the mother of the baby or not, but he does imply
that rather than comforting a crying infant, she curses it. This reveals the hardened heart of the
harlot, which represents the hardened heart of society at large. While the innocent shed tears, the
perverted attack them.

The last line of ‘London’ reveals the speaker’s thoughts on marriage as well. The Harlot has
“blighted” the “marriage hearse”. She has deranged marriage by having sold her body before
ever entering into the marriage union. Although the speaker believes that the Harlot has
somehow damaged marriage, he also reveals his beliefs about marriage in the first place. The
fact that he calls it a “marriage hearse” reveals that he views marriage as death. Overall, the
poem has criticized society, the church, prostitution, and even marriage. The innocent baby
shedding tears represents those who are innocent in the world. They are few and they are scoffed
at. They are also infants and are not left to be innocent for long. Their innocence is “blasted” by
the cry of the perverted.

Similar Poetry

Readers who enjoyed ‘London’ should also consider reading some other William Blake poems.
These include ‘The Tyger,’ ‘A Poison Tree,’ and ‘The Sick Rose.’ The latter contains an
extended metaphor in which the speaker compares a rose to a woman’s innocence or virginity. If
the rose is sick, then it has lost its virginity. ‘A Poison Tree’ was included along with ‘The
Tyger’ in Songs of Experience. It considers two different ways of confronting and dealing with
anger. ‘The Tyger’ describes the cruelty of some of God’s creatures and wonders why God made
them as he did.

Originally appearing in Blake's collection of poetry entitled 'Songs of Experience,' this poem
explores the social turmoil that has consumed the city of London. Through his use of imagery
and figurative language he laments over the nightmarish existence faced by its inhabitants. Even
centuries later, the poem's daunting illustrations of life in this industrial and politically
oppressive city remain exceptionally relevant as an image of dystopian horror.

Given by what Blake wrote, He was clearly Naive and had very little understanding about the
workings of the medieval society and the history, evolution and transition of social structure
from the ancient to the medieval world. Not only is he not nuanced about any of his takes, He is
totally bigoted towards the Prostitutes. What makes me sad is that You, who is living in the 21st
Century, is Bigoted towards Prostitutes as well. Many of the sentences of this analysis point
towards your nativity and bigotry along with Blake’s. Please edit it well (Unless you hold a
Bigoted view yourself).
William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.