London

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London

  • Context:
  • William Blake rejected established religion for many reasons but mainly because the Church failed to help children in London who were forced to work. Blake lived and worked in the capital so understood the conditions there. London was part of a two part collection of poems called "Songs of Innocence",published in 1789, containing poems which celebrate love, childhood and nature.Whilst "The Songs of Experience" poems provide a contrast, illustrating the effects of modern life on people and nature, covering many adult fears and anxieties such as poverty.me of the topics Blake explores.The FRench revolution was also just beginning which Blake saw as a negative thing but could understand that it should happen due to the condition of London.

  • Structure:
  • Extremely tight with no wasted words. Also the repetion of words like "mark" and "every" untite the poem and reflect the repetive nature of life in London such as factory work and daily routines. There are four stanzas each is a quatrain (consisting of four lines), with the last word on every other line rhyming.The poem is short.
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London 2

  • Message:
  • How the appalling conditions led the people in London to decay physically, morally and spiritually. Money was spent on church buildings rather than to help those in poverty so to Blake, this makes a mockery of the love and care that should characterise the Christian religion. The poem is also saying that unless the conditions change the people will be forced to revolt. It also shows that the urbanisation of Britain means that children are forced to work in awful conditions instead to being free to enjoy childhood.
  • 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 prophesy 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.
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London 3

  • Language:
  • 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 to express the absence of hope and negative atmospher of the city.
  • 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. Yet here 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.
  • The poem is filled with ambiguity such as there are many interpretations of phrases such as "mind-forg'd manacles".
  • Effect:
  • These uses of language and meaning of the poem leave the reader feeling depressed but also refreshed in the way that they no that something has to change, so it makes us almost call out onto the streets of London to encourage people to step out and start again by means of a revoluton.
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