Weekly prep - London by W. Blake (p.

23-24)

1) “London” is a poem by William Blake in which he gives the floor to a speaker,

we do not know if it is him or another person. The speaker is going for a walk, we
can specify that he did it in London because he is talking about the English river
“Thames”, also because of the title. The speaker sees weakness, despair on the
face of each person he meets during this walk. The speaker hears the cries (=
despair) of many people such as men, infants, chimney-sweepers and soldiers.
But he says it's mostly the cries of prostitutes he hears in the streets at midnight.

2) The poem deals with various themes such as the despair of human beings, life,
misery, especially that of the city of London.

3) The tone of the poem is dark and melancholy. The relation of the speaker to his
surroundings is based on sorrow and compassion I would say.

4) The poem’s images also appeal to the auditory sense, to hearing. We can quote
lines 13-15 "I hear how the young […] child cries". We can say that the speaker
hears the sorrows, the despair of each one.

5) As examples of repetition we can find :

- Mark(s) “ And mark [...] Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (l.3-4)
By repeating the word “marks”, the speaker makes us understand that people's faces have
been marked by their despair. Sadness leaves traces, marks.

- Every “ In every cry [...] In every Infants [...] In every voice: in every ban” (l.5-7)
The repetition of the word “every” shows us that it is everywhere in London that people are in
despair, it creates a mass effect, it increases it.

- Cry “Every cry” (l.5)/ “Infant’s cry” (l.6)

The repetition of the word “cry” emphasizes everyone's despair. By insisting on this, the
speaker tries to make us understand that they are all suffering.

6) “chartered”
“mark”
“black’ning”
“appalls”
“blast”
“blights”

7) “Mind-forged manacles” means that we forge our own barriers in our minds,
never wanting to see further. We limited ourselves.

8) The oxymoron "wedding hearse" means that one can easily go from love (=
marriage) to hatred, to death (= hearse). There is only one step between the two.
 9) The poem is in an iambic tetrameter
1st stanza =
I wander through each chartered street,
/ - / -/ -/

Near where the chartered Thames does flow,

- /-/-/-

And mark in every face I meet

-/-/-

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

/-/-/-/

10) The powers Blake holds responsible for what he sees are :
The government - alluded to the “chimney-sweeper”(l.9) in the poem.
The monarchy - alluded to “soldier”(l.12) in the poem.
The church - alluded to “harlot”(l.14) in the poem.

11) The poem was published in 1794, so in the late 18th century. This poem was
therefore written during the industrial revolution which took place in England from
1760 to 1840. Now I understand that the speaker is walking around London
during the crisis, the industrial revolution. This explains their despair, sadness
and misery, they’ve lost everything.