Analysis Of The Poem London Essay

Analysis of the poem London By: William Blake

In the Poem London, By William Blake, the speaker wanders through the streets of London and comments on his observations about the world he sees around him. Whilst on this journey, he witnesses despondency and misery in the faces of the people he meets and hears fear and repression in their voices.

Within the poem, the speaker is attacking the world he sees before him. In the opening stanzas, Blake uses alliteration and word choice to set the sombre atmosphere. Blake introduces his reader to the narrator as he "wanders" through the "charterd" society. Blake's repetition of this word Charterd (he also does this with two repetitions of "mark" in the next two lines) emphasizes the sense of constraint the speaker feels upon entering the city. This society is one in which every person he sees has "marks of weakness, marks of woe." The word wander can at once be related to a sense of freedom, this is in sharp contrast to aforementioned charterd which gives the reader a sense of constriction. Again charterd Thames is in contrast to the freedom of Flow.

Blake frequently uses the word "every" and "cry" within the second stanza. This is to symbolize the depression that lingers over each branch of society. In this stanza he discusses many different groups. The "mind-forged manacles" suggest to me that these are mental restraints placed upon the people within all aspects of this the social order.

In the third stanza, Blake uses imagery of destruction and religion. The "chimney-sweeper's cry" symbolizes a society trying to clean the ashes that has been a cause of their state of depression. Blake uses the religious imagery of the "black'ning church" to represent a loss of innocence, and the society's abandonment of religion. The hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls This refers to an army of men who are drafted into war and have no choice but to serve their country. An army not helped by the institution.

All the speaker's subjects--men, infants, chimney-sweeper, soldier, harlot--are known only through the traces they leave behind: the ubiquitous cries, the blood on the palace walls. Signs of human suffering abound, but a complete human form