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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
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
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