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By William Blake. 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.
- Summary
- Context/Background
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Themes
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
- Similar Poetry
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‘London’ by William Blakeis 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...
One biographer said of Blake: 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 an...
‘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 sta...
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 transitionbetween lines three and fo...
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 ...
Stanza One
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....
Stanza Two
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...
Stanza Three
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 toprovide for their families. Then...
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 include...
A poem that condemns the oppression and misery of 19th-century London through the eyes of a resident. Learn about the context, structure, themes, and literary devices of this ballad, and explore its imagery and acrostic.
- “London” Summary. The speaker takes a walk through the designated streets of London. This walk brings the speaker near the River Thames, which seems to have its course dictated for it as it flows throughout the city.
- “London” Themes. The Oppression of Urban Life. In “London,” the speaker takes a walk through the titular city and finds only misery. The dirty and dangerous city is an intense expression of human life—not at its fullest, but at its most depraved and impoverished.
- Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “London” Lines 1-2. I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. The opening of the poem sets up its premise: the reader will accompany the speaker on a walk through London, seeing and hearing what the speaker perceives.
- “London” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language. Alliteration. Alliteration occurs in all four stanzas of "London." In lines 3 and 4, the numerous /m/ and /w/ sounds create a sense of abundant misery.
"London" is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Experience in 1794. It is one of the few poems in Songs of Experience that does not have a corresponding poem in Songs of Innocence. Blake lived in London so writes of it as a resident rather than a visitor. The poems reference the "Two Contrary States of the Human Soul".
London Lyrics. I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet. Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, In every...
Explore the meaning and poetic devices of Blake's famous poem "London", a critique of the urban despair and moral decay of his time. Learn how Blake uses imagery, symbolism, metaphor, and irony to convey his vision of the city.
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Dec 29, 2016 · Learn about the meaning and language of Blake's famous poem 'London', which depicts the misery and oppression of the city's inhabitants. Explore the historical context, the use of rhyme and metre, and the oxymoron of 'Marriage hearse'.
