London is a poem that narrates the darker days of England at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This poem is from Blake’s ” songs of experience” collection.
England had to implement many oppressive rules in light of the French Revolution. The government introduced many policies that restricted the freedom of people. Individual freedom was regulated by the authorities.
This poem is written into four quatrains with an ABAB rhyming scheme. The poem begins by stating about a casual walk made by the poet through the streets of London.
The poet expresses his concerns about the sadness reflected in the people he met. Blake takes his apprehensions to a different level by writing he could feel the same distress in an infant’s cry.
He couldn’t feel any better voices from his surroundings. He experienced the same feeling of fear and sorrow from every part of the street.
In the third stanza, Blake mocks two authorities that survive by exploiting the common people; the church and the palace. He questions the royal authorities who treat their soldiers miserably.
Unlike, other poems Blake ends this poem with a pessimistic note. He is concerned about the poor ladies who are compelled to be prostitutes. Industrialization forced low-class people to opt for prostitution for their day-to-day needs.
Read similar poems here
Read the full poem below
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
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