London Flashcards
What is the big idea of London?
Blake focuses on the abuse of power and how that results in vast inequality. Blake is urging people to break free of their “mind-forged manacles”
Who wrote London?
William Blake
“chartered street”
“chartered Thames”
Ownership by the elite (rich) rather than the people
“Marks of weakness, marks of woe”
Metaphor creates an image of emotional branding
“In every cry of every man, / In every infant’s cry of fear, / In every voice, in every ban”
- Anaphora - beginning of a sentence is repeated
- Confinement of their emotions
- Trapped/prohibited
“The mind-forged manacles I hear”
- Alliteration ‘m’
- Metaphor creates imagery of people being imprisoned by their thoughts
- ‘Manacles’ = handcuffs, ankles and wrists
“Every black’ning church appalls”
Metaphor - corruption of the church
“hapless soldier’s sigh”
Without hope
“Runs in blood down palace walls”
Metaphor - corruption of government & royalty - powerful image
“youthful harlot’s curse / Blasts the new-born infant’s tear”
- ‘harlot’ = prostitute
- Image - sexual exploitation
- An infant inheriting a broken world
“blights with plagues the marriage hearse”
- Oxymoron - juxtaposes the joy of marriage with misery of death
- Cycle of hopelessness never ends
What is the structure of London?
- Alternative rhyming pattern - ABAB - mirrors the speaker’s walking journey through the streets of London. Providing the reader with a corrupt, hopeless and morbid view of life in London
- Quatrain - 4 lines - listing a variety of social issues and corruption
