London - A poem by William Blake

William Blake - London

I wander thro' each charter'd street.
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
A 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 blackening 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

Added: on October 29th, 2004 at 10:40 AM | Viewed: 7001 times | Comments (3)

London - Comments and Information
Poet: William Blake Poem: London Volume: Songs of Experience Year: Published/Written in 1789 Poem of the Day on: Jan 26 2004 Comment 3 of 3, added on May 17th, 2006 at 7:14 AM. Thanks, thats realy helpful Just to further the point about "chartered" reinforcing uniformity and regimentation...you could maybe say that "chartered Thames" is an oxymoron the free-flowing nature of the river restrained and controlled. I dunno...just a thought... Also, we tend to focus on the language of poems alot when their form and structure are equally important. Notice in 'London', Blake employs a simple rhythm, each stanza with equal lines and syllables...what is this all meaning? Perhaps it is to reinforce the state of oppression and uniformity that London is in. Or maybeee, Blake is attempting the distill London's corruption to a simple essence. This poem is not based on a particular city but acts as a paradigm...it expresses a timeless truth in which the situation in London is universally applicable. Or, gosh the mind is thinking now, maybe London is a state of mind. This "mind-forged manacles" business is people either having control of your mind or the mind creating these thoughts...that was poorly worded but what i mean to say is that the corruption in 'London' may be mirroring the corruption of the human mind. But above all..."marriage hearse" WHAT an oxymoron :) Ami Comment 2 of 3, added on October 3rd, 2005 at 12:16 PM. To clarify Asma's comment: "mind-forg'd manacles" does not mean people's hands are chained it refers to the mental or "mind forg'd" way in which the people are bound - they lack a real feeling of freedom and are trapped by their poverty etc in their lives in London. "charter'd" also does not mean "not free to the people". It means literally that the streets are mapped out - like charted ("charter'd"), and this implies again a lack of freedom for the people as the streets are so coordinated, planned out and regemented. They have no control over them. "black'ning church" means that the church buildings are becoming black from smoke and fumes and implies figuratively that the church itself has become tarnished and corrupted by the surrounding city and people. the bit about the soldier's blood means that the soldier simply dies because he is unlucky (his death is therefore implied to be pointless), but his blood is "metaphorically) on the palace walls because it was there the decision was made to send him to war in the first place (the monarchs still had this influence, back in the day). Also look out for repetition in the poem of all the constricting or negative words the harlot bit is a sort of train of thought - the harlot (prostitute) has passed her "curse" - STD (possibly syphillis which was rampant at the time) - to a husband, who then passes it to his wife and in the process means she gives birth to an infected child - therefore thee harlot's "curse" affects the newborn child. Hope this is helpful! :) Reader from United Kingdom Comment 1 of 3, added on October 29th, 2004 at 10:40 AM. in the poem, staza 1, "charter'd" means "not free to people". "marks of weekness and marks of woe" manes marks of misery on the face of people." "mind-forg'd manacles" means that people hands are in chains, that man's lack of freedom. "every black'ning church appals" appals = goes pale and they mean by this that the church which is supposed to help the poor, it is black with smoke. "and the haplass(unfortunate) soldier sigh, Runs blood down palace walls." this means that in war, unhappiness of a soldier led to bloodshed. "youthfull harlot's curse" is sexually transmitted diseases spread to others. "plagues" in the last line means sexually transmitted disease Hope this helps with any work!!! Asma from Canada More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, London, has received 3 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by William Blake with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info
London Volume: Songs of Experience Year: Published/Written in 1789 Last read: 2008-10-07 11:31:46 Poem of the Day on: Jan 26 2004 Viewed 7001 times. Added on October 29th, 2004 at 10:40 AM.

Blake Info
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