London by William Blake

The following article was written by Lena as a part of her revision for the a-levels on English Language in 2005. I hope this will be handy for anyone having to revise for “English GK”

London, by William Blake

The poem consists of four stanzas, with four lines. The rhyme scheme is a cross rhyme. The poem’s general attitude and mood can be described as a very depressive one. In the first stanza, which can be seen as an introduction, the lyrical I focusing the reader at the city of London in general. Therefore the reader gets a first impression of the city. The repetition of the word “charter d´” in the first two lines shows that many things are owned by capitalists. The parallelism in line four “Marks of weakness, marks of woe.” and the anaphora “In every…” in the first three lines of the second stanza show that there are no happy people and that everything is cruel. Words like “voice” (l.7), “hear” (l.8),”cry” (l.9) and” sigh” (l.11) create a special atmosphere, because the words are connected with sound. The third stanza shows that every member of the society and also every institution are involved in the depressive mood of the city. Blake personifies the church in line ten (”Church appalls ;”) to demonstrate, that the people who work for it are also responsible for the tragedy in London. The word “blacking” in the same line shows that the image of church is damaged. With the sentence in line 11 and 12 “Soldiers sigh runs in blood down Palace walls.” Blake wants to clarify that the government/monarchy is also guilty for the tragic events. The word “blood” and the “soldier” in this context stand for war, hate, dead and other negative associations. Blake wants to show that there exists no hope. Children often stand for hope. Therefore he uses many words, which reminds the reader of children, for example “infants, new born” as well as the metaphor “chimney-sweeper” in line nine, which stands for a child, too. In the last stanza the most serious problem of the society is demonstrated. The metaphor “Marriage hearse” in the last line of the poem, symbolizes that marriage is responsible for harlotry and every problems which are connected with it. The word “Harlot’s curse” in line 14 underlines this.
All in all it becomes clear that Blake wants to criticize the institution of church and government, which were both very powerful in the 19th century. He also criticizes the capitalists as well as the social force of marriage. These facts are after Blake responsible for the disaster in London.