London
London - context Summary
Published in 1794
Written for Songs of Experience and published in 1794, Blake's "London" presents a bleak survey of the city as a site of social and moral corruption. Through linked scenes—the oppressed worker, frightened child, exploited soldier and prostitute—Blake indicts institutions (church, palace) and urban capitalism. The poem responds to conditions of the Industrial Revolution and expresses Blake's political and spiritual critique of systemic oppression that shapes lives and consciousness.
Read Complete AnalysesI wandered through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, A 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-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening church appals, And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls. But most, through midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlot's curse Blasts the new-born infant's tear, And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.
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