London

Poet - WILLIAM BLAKE 

CONTEXT

The French Revolution occurred in 1789

Blake was so affected by the events in France and how people in England responded, he decided to write some poetry.

THE POEM ITSELF

London is a dark poem.

It's about dirt, filth, disease, plague, prostitution, child labour and everything that Blake felt was wrong about the city. 

STRUCTURE 

London is written in iambic tetrameter and uses an alternate rhyme scheme - this reminds us of one of the main themes of the poem, that social life is constricted, confined and repressed by authority 'chartered' 'manacles' and 'ban'. 

The tight form of…