Précis: The poem is making an account of dangerous industrial conditions, child labour, prostitution and poverty in contemporary London.
Context: William Blake was a poet in Victorian/Georgian England, he wrote a selection of poems in his anthologies songs of innocence from experience, most of those poems had a counterpart. The experience poems were often more bitter and cynical whereas the innocence poems were often naïve and simple. London is one of few without a counterpart. William Blake specialised in illuminated texts, often of a religious nature. He rejected established religion for various reasons. One of the main ones was the failure of the established Church to help children in London who were forced to work. Blake lived and worked in the capital, so was arguably well placed to write clearly about the conditions people who lived there faced.
He was born near London in the late 1700's, which means that he lived in the 1800's when the ideals of society were restrictive and often overwhelming. He did not conform to these patterns, but rather found himself among other radical thinkers. One biographer explains, "Blake was a nonconformist who associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day, such as Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft." 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 first hand. At one point in his life, he was accused of speaking against the king. The penalty for this was severe, and Blake was distraught over the issue until he was finally acquitted. It is not surprising that he should revile such a strict government. The words of this poem condemn every kind of organised religion and government while it reveals the human heart's longing for freedom.
The poem is set during a time in England where there was poverty, child labour and a horrific war with France. Women had no rights, death rates from disease and malnutrition were high and the industrial revolution has resulted in many large oppressive factories. Blake's poems often railed against these and how London, arguably the greatest city in the world at that time, was so dirty and corrupt.
This poem reveals the author's feelings toward the society that he lived in. To endure 1800s England was to know the most restrictive of societies, where laws were broken only on penalty of death, and people followed a specific societal protocol. It reveals Blake's true thoughts about the society in which he lived. It is still universal and timeless, as every society has restrictions which it has placed on human lives. The speaker makes it very clear that he believes the government to have too much control and society to be too stringent.
During this time, France had thrown off and executed their king. The People's revolution was meant to show that all men are equal and have power. In Britain, a country with an old monarchy and aristocracy, this was scary. Blake is perhaps supporting the revolution, asking people to throw off the "manacles" of their belief that they should be told what to do. Many saw the French Revolution as inspirational - a model for how ordinary, disadvantaged people could seize power. Blake alludes to the revolution in London, arguably suggesting that the experience of living there could encourage a revolution on the streets of the capital.
Theme: Looking at power and conflict this is a poem which is more about the lack of power and abuse of power. The poem is set in the capital of the most powerful country in the world and yet words like "manacles" suggest slavery while the soldier's sigh "runs in blood down palace walls" a clear contrast between those with power and those without.
Structure: The poem is written in four stanzas with a regular alternate scheme (there is a strict abab rhyme scheme in each of the four stanzas), or Quatrains. This may reflect the regular walking pace of the narrator as he walks around London. The last line of each stanza tends to deliver a powerful statement which sums up the rest of the stanza.
"Runs in blood down Palace walls."
Stanza 1 focusses on misery.
Stanza 2 on peoples' refusal to stand tall.
Stanza 3 about the way people are sacrificed for the rich and powerful.
Stanza 4 on how all this poverty is corrupting everything good about family and life. The four stanzas offer a glimpse of different aspects of the city, almost like snapshots seen by the speaker during his wander thro' the streets.
The acrostic that runs down the first letters of the lines in the third stanza makes up the word "HEAR". This could be a call to all those in authority to listen to the complaints and cries of the populace. Or else, those with power and money who have been an integral part of the system that wrought such suffering on people may indeed be able to hear, but choose to do nothing about it.
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 Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appals,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
Mark = to notice (verb) / a sign or indication of a quality or feeling (noun).
Ban = a curse.
Hapless = unfortunate.
Blight = spoil, harm, or destroy.
Language: The tone of the poem is at times biblical, reflecting Blake's strong interest in religion. It is as if the speaker is offering a prophecy of the terrible consequences unless changes are made in the city.
In the first stanza, Blake uses repetition twice, firstly using the word charter'd. This is a reference to the charters that allocated ownership and rights to specific people. Many, including Blake, saw this as robbing ordinary people of their rights and freedoms.
The second use of repetition is with the word marks. This has a dual meaning: it refers to the physical marks carried by people as a result of the conditions they endure and is also suggestive of the speaker recording evidence during his walk through the city streets.
In the first three lines of stanza two, the speaker makes it clear that "every" sound he hears is evidence of the "mind-forg'd manacles". Manacles are like handcuffs. The speaker is suggesting that people's minds are restricted and confined - that the city has robbed them of the ability to think.
The poem is full of negative words: "weakness", "woe", "cry", "fear", "appals", "blood", "blights", "plagues" and "hearse" are just some of them.
The poem ends with a startling contrast in the language chosen: marriage hearse. To Blake, marriage should be a celebration of love and the beginning of new life. Here, however, it is combined with the word hearse - a vehicle associated with funerals. To the speaker of the poem, the future brings nothing but death and decay.
Stanza by Stanza Analysis:
Stanza 1: In the first stanza, the speaker provides 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. He is not walking in a free, open field, but a confined, rigid, mapped out area. The speaker will expound upon this idea later on in the poem. As he walks, he notices something about the faces of the people walking by. There seem to be the marks of weariness in them all. He describes their faces as having "weakness" and "woe". This sets up the tone as melancholy. The gloom and the sadness seem to seep from the speaker's voice as he describes the passersby.
Stanza 2: While the first stanza sets up the tone of the poem, 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 sort of chain that keeps a person imprisoned. The fact that these chains are "mind forg'd" reveals that they are metaphorical chains created by the people's own ideas. The use of the word "ban" reveals that these manacles are placed there by society. A ban, of course, is a restriction given by law. The speaker's use of words such as "Charter'd" "ban" and "manacles" reveal his belief that society metaphorically imprisons people. Suddenly, it becomes apparent that the thoughts, pressures, and ideals of society are under scrutiny here.
Stanza 3: In this stanza, 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 of 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 to provide for their families. Then, the speaker criticises the church, calling it "blackening" and claiming that even the church "appals" at the chimney-sweeper. Often, the chimney sweepers were just children. They were small enough to fit down the chimneys. These children have often been orphaned, and the church was responsible for them. This explains why the author ties the chimney sweepers with the "blackening church". The speaker then turns his attention to the "hapless soldier". He has already criticised society, pointed out the misfortunes of the poor and the hypocrisy of the church, and now he will also criticise the government by suggesting that the soldiers are the poor victims of a corrupt government. He reveals his feelings toward war by describing the blood that runs down the palace walls. The palace, of course, is where royalty would have lived. Thus, the speaker accuses the higher up people in his society of spilling the blood of the soldiers in order to keep their comfort of living in a palace.
Stanza 4: In the final stanza, the speaker reveals how the corruptness of society attacks innocence. He says that he hears the "youthful Harlot's curse...". The idea of a youthful harlot suggests the level of poverty and corruption that a girl who was yet a youth would be involved in prostitution. Then, things become even more interesting, as the speaker reveals the object of the Harlot's cursing. She curses at the tears of a newborn baby. This is the ultimate attack upon innocence. The speaker does not reveal whether the harlot is the mother of the baby or not, but he does imply that rather than comforting a crying infant, she curses it. This reveals the hardened heart of the harlot, which represents the hardened heart of society at large. While the innocent shed tears, the perverted attack them. The last line of this poem reveals the speaker's thoughts on marriage as well. The Harlot, apparently, has "blighted" the "marriage hearse". She has deranged marriage by having sold her body before ever entering into the marriage union. Although the speaker believes that the Harlot has somehow damaged marriage, he also reveals his beliefs about marriage in the first place. The fact that he calls it a "marriage hearse" reveals that he views marriage as death. Overall, the poem has criticised society, the church, prostitution, and even marriage. The innocent baby shedding tears represent those who are innocent in the world. They are few, and they are scoffed at. They are also infants and are not left to be innocent for long. Their innocence is "blasted" by the cry of the perverted.
Line by Line Analysis:
- "I wander thro' each charter'd street" - Blake creates the impression that he is wandering through London, observing life in this bustling, frightening city. It also suggests a person who may be aimless but is taking time to think about what he sees. It prepares the reader for the significant — and harrowing — comments that will follow.
The idea of wandering and observing a city was typified a few decades later by the Parisian flaneur, a leisured gentleman who meandered through streets watching and commentating. This observer, however, sees not polite society but suffering and poverty.
The use of the word "chartered" has several historical meanings. Blake's friend, an activist, criticised the granting of Royal Charters to control trade as a form of class oppression.
"Chartered" could also mean "freighted", and may refer to the busy or overburdened streets and river, or to the licensed trade carried on within them.
- "Near where the charter'd Thames does flow." - The streets were controlled by the rich, but the Thames was simply polluted and filthy. Blake originally used the word "dirty" instead of "charter'd".
In the 18th century, the Thames was one of the busiest waterways in the world, and thoroughly contaminated. Hardly anything could survive in its water but bacteria and eels. People (often prostitutes) frequently committed suicide in it, with their disease-ridden bodies rotting in it for days. And yet the River Thames has been an inspiration for a range of poetic visions, something which Blake refused to follow.
- "And mark in every face I meet" - In this line, "mark" is used to set up the wordplay and repetition for the next line. The word "every" sets up the next stanza in that it is repeated at the beginning of the first three lines. Blake is skilled in techniques like these.
The overall picture is of seething suffering humanity; a sea of faces.
- "Marks of weakness, marks of woe." - "Marks" now means the visible marks, the metaphorical scars, left by the controlling, oppressive system which is making the Londoners vulnerable. The marks of weakness may also refer to the visible marks left by syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease, which seriously enfeebled the victims as the symptoms progressed. Furthermore, the poverty-stricken majority of the population would have had a skimpy, poor and monotonous diet which would have barely kept them alive, let alone healthy.
The simple repetition of "marks of weakness, marks of woe ..." lends a poignancy to the end of this stanza. Blake uses alliteration to link the despair (woe) to the futility (weakness), amplifying just how damaged the population of London was. The two phrases within the line have the same syntactic construction, a device known as syntactic parallelism; the repetition giving emphasis. Note also that "weakness" and "woe" create a semantic field of suffering.
- "In every cry of every Man, / In every Infant's cry of fear, / In every voice: in every ban" - Powerful repetition of "every" and "cry" develops the sense that Blake's London is a tortuous and agonising place in which to live. The sense that everybody, regardless of age, is living in this dystopian city pervades. The lines are structured to constitute a list, building up a picture of an abundance of suffering.
The repetition of "In every ..." is a device called anaphora, with the same two words coming at the beginning of three lines. This adds a rhythmic emphasis to reinforce the meaning. It is also another example of syntactic parallelism.
- "The mind-forg'd manacles I hear" - A striking line: the previously described trials of the oppressed population make Blake aware of the systems of control – religious, social, economic, political and monarchical – which keep the people in a state of suffering. The compressed "mind-forged" is especially memorable, with "mind", a noun modifier for "forged". Note also the long vowels which make the line difficult to say — almost a tongue-twister — expressing the mental restrictions it describes.
- "How the Chimney-sweepers cry / Every black'ning Church appals" - The chimney-sweeper symbolises the abuse of innocence which is such a key theme in Blake's work. Boys were forced by poverty into this dangerous and exploitative employment. This links to the next line where their cry metaphorically blackens the church, with its alleged care for the weak. Though the children have dirty, blackened faces, they are innocent. The church, however, is blackened or sullied by its complicity in the abuse and exploitation of the vulnerable. The hypocrisy appals Blake.
Blake moves from introspective musings to specific social realism, in that he focuses on "the chimney-sweeper". Note that each of the characters in the poem is described with a capital letter so that they represent a section of society. Unlike academics and postulating "thinkers", Blake always returns to real experiences. This is continued in the following stanzas' references to a soldier, harlot, and new-born baby.
- "And the hapless Soldiers sigh" - This line refers to the way events are controlled by outside forces. The "hapless" soldier's sigh "run[ning] in blood" down the enclosures of power–metaphorically staining the palace's pristine walls–could speak to Blake's understanding of the futility of existence, the destructive stupidity of war, or the fact that soldiers who die while following orders have literally given control of their life to their country, and thus lack agency over their fates.
Note the alliterative repetition of "a"s and "p"s in "appals" and "hapless", which give unity to the stanza. Also, the plosive "b"s and "p"s in "'blackening" and "blood", and "Palace", "appals" and again 'hapless' express the anger and despair of the speaker.
To reinforce the speaker's synaesthesia— whose "mind-forg'd manacles" see the worst in everything around him (an unfortunate condition of Experience) and causes him to have his aural experience manifest itself in horrible sights (literally seeing sounds) — the aforementioned acrostic of this stanza. The speaker is overwhelmed by the suffering that marks his perception as much as it marks the hapless victims of an Industrial Empire.
- "Runs in blood down Palace walls" - The "blood down palace walls" may refer to the corrupt European governments of the Romantic era. The blood may refer to those who were oppressed under the monarchy and those with powerful financial interests. Examples of those harmed and killed by the government are mentioned in the previous three lines. For example, the "hapless soldier" perhaps died because of corruption or mismanagement in the government and the military. Blake accuses the monarchy of wasting lives on causes that have no meaning for ordinary people.
- "How the youthful Harlots curse" - The desperation of London is summed up by the young prostitute cursing. Is she cursing as in swearing, or cursing others, like the men who exploit her? Or is she herself, also cursed?
The word "youthful" here is a direct criticism of the conditions for young, working-class women in the time of George III. Poor urban women worked as seamstresses (which required skill that took time to learn), and in domestic service.
The early industrial revolution, (the "Romantic" era) when Blake lived, started in the north of England; factory work for women and children was beginning to grow and mill towns to spring up, though conditions in the mills and factories were terrible. But in London, those who failed to find work sewing or in domestic service fell back on prostitution as the most viable means of subsistence. This was the fate of thousands of young women with nowhere else to turn. Before taking up the profession, this unencumbered young girl might have been an "English rose" as opposed to her now haggard, cursing self.
- "Blasts the new-born Infants tear" - It is as if the chain of social disease links the oppression of sex trade with the oppression of marriage: as if both sexual outlets, the 2 options for sexual experience, are both the same, both "manacled", both sick with a literal and mental disease. A bold assertion even now.
- "And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse" - It appears that the harlot's curse attacks and mars, or marks, the institution of marriage. London itself is marked by the depravity caused by the oppressive nature of the political and religious systems which allow such evil and exploitation to exist. Blight and plague are the results.
The oxymoronic phrase "marriage hearse" also suggests the prevalence of death from diseases and the double standard that came with marriage at the time. Women were expected to remain "clean" and "unspoiled," yet it was the philandering of the men who were not held to the same standards that caused the concept of marriage to become a "hearse" because of diseases caught from "youthful harlots."
Further Analysis:
- "I wander" - First-person narrator personalises the poem and makes it seem more real.
- "wander" - This sounds purposeless - this could reflect how he feels powerless to change what's happening.
- "each chartered street" - Chartered is something which is listed and regulated, the streets are clearly controlled, but it suggests the Thames, the river likewise is controlled, nature controlled by man. The word "each" further emphasises the control: the whole city is affected, not just one area.
- "the chartered Thames" - Even powerful, natural features like the River Thames are under human control, and affected by the city's problems.
- "mark in every face I meet" - Blake is suggesting that everyone is without power and in misery, a powerful statement indeed. The term mark can be a metaphor for a brand, as if these people don't want to look tired, but are branded with this look to show their place in society.
- "in every cry", "in every man", "in every infant's", "in every voice", "in every ban" - Repetition of "in every" used to show the scale of suffering, showing bleakness and that the despair effects literally everyone. There's no relief from it at all.
- "cry of fear" - The speaker hears various, distressing noises - this makes it seem like a vivid and hellish experience.
- "mind-forged manacles" - Alliteration of mind/manacles helps draw our attention to the metaphor, Blake is showing that these people are not physically held back, but their belief in their own weakness holds them back.
- "How the Chimney-sweepers cry / Every black'ning Church appals" - The juxtaposition but also connection between the cries of children made to sweep chimneys and therefore from the rooftops, and church bells which ring out are striking. Blake saw religion as a tool to keep the people down and therefore was wrong "blackening". This contrasts the cries of the innocent dirty children with the supposedly clean but corrupt church. Furthermore, chimney sweeps were usually young boys. This is a key use of emotive language to paint a vivid image of child labour.
- "black'ning" - Blake seems to be angry at all forms of power, describing the church as "black'ning" could suggest that it is corrupt or that it's tarnished by its failure to look after people. It's also a grim visual image of the ugliness caused by the Industrial Revolution.
- "the hapless Soldier's sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls" - This draws on the link to war at this time. The blood running down palace walls signifies their sacrifice to protect the power of those who live in the palaces. It is a symbolic metaphor.
- "youthful harlot's curse" - Contrast between the innocence of youth and the sordidness of prostitution. Also, "curse" could imply that he hears the prostitute swearing, or he might mean that they are a curse on London.
- "Blasts the new-born infant's tear" - The innocence of newborn babies is lost immediately - society damages its members.
- "blights with plagues the Marriage hearse" - Oxymoron which juxtaposes the joy of marriage with the misery of death. Blake is suggesting that society has destroyed all the good things in life. Also, the powerful language of illness and disease implied destruction, as the verb "blights" and noun "plagues" (combined with the semantic field) hint at something that's uncontrollable and destined to affect a lot of people.
Attitudes and Ideas: Blake's speaker has a very negative view of the city. For Blake, the conditions faced by people caused them to decay physically, morally and spiritually.
For Blake, buildings, especially church buildings, often symbolised confinement, restriction and failure. In this poem, the lines "the Chimney-sweeper's cry / Every blackening church appals" provide an association which reveals the speaker's attitude. Money is spent on church buildings while children live in poverty, forced to clean chimneys - the soot from which blackens the church walls. To Blake, this makes a mockery of the love and care that should characterise the Christian religion.
The blackening church walls are also linked to the running of blood down Palace walls - a clear allusion to the French Revolution. The speaker is perhaps arguing that, unless conditions change, the people will be forced to revolt.
The poem as a whole suggests Blake sees the rapid urbanisation in Britain at the time as a dangerous force. Children are no longer free to enjoy childhood; they instead work in dangerous conditions. Charters restrict freedoms, ultimately resulting in the restriction of thinking.
The poem is pessimistic. It is without hope for the future.
Comparison to Ozymandias (Percy Bysshe Shelley):
Both writers were very romantic, heavily influenced by the revolutionary ideas and rapidly changing social and political values of the late 18th and early 19th century.
A theme of Mortality lives in both poems.
In "London" Blake talks about the death and suffering of people, and in "Ozymandias" Shelley talks about the death of a civilisation.
A sense of someone dominating, someone with greater power occurs in both poems. In "London" the rich have this upper hand against the poor, in "Ozymandias" this great leader is said to have this strength over his enemies and his own people.
Comparison to Exposure (Owen Wilson):
In both of these poems, people were suffering, in more ways than one. In London, people were getting hurt because of the new laws the government had put in. This is illustrated in the quote "In every cry of every man, / in every cry of fear, / in every voice of every ban". Blake uses repetition to emphasise people's suffering. We can infer from the quote that people are feeling hopeless, pain and misery. The quote also suggests that people are worried about getting hurt. This links to Exposure because the soldiers were constantly waiting to go into battle and get hurt.
The soldiers were suffering in Exposure also. Soldiers were going to war and dying thinking they were helping their country. This is shown in the quote "In the merciless iced east winds that knife us." The personification of the words "winds" and "knife" display that the soldiers were suffering. The quote suggests that the winds were so cold, but they fought on anyway because they thought they were helping their country. This links to London because they thought things were going to get better.