London Flashcards
Summary
The speaker describes his experience of walking through the streets of London.
He is struck by the poverty, disease and misery he sees and expresses anger that those in power do nothing to help
Key Concepts in London
Impact of industrialisation
The reference to chimney sweepers (often young children) reminds readers of the price people paid for urbanisation that resulted from the Industrial Revolution.
Children – who are meant to be carefree and innocent – are forced to take on responsibilities and endure hardship.
Key Concepts in London
Church and monarchy
Blake is very critical of the Church and the monarchy. Even though these powerful institutions have a supposed duty to the people of London, they contribute to their oppression rather than relieving it.
Blake is also critical of these institutions for spending money on buildings and luxuries when there is so much suffering and poverty on their doorstep.
Key Concepts in London
Being trapped
The inhabitants of London are trapped in their suffering. This idea is consistently reinforced by Blake using vocabulary relating to entrapment and imprisonment.
Blake suggests that the poor, in particular, cannot escape their circumstances.
Structure and Form of London
Regular rhythm and rhyme
There is a regular ABAB rhyme scheme and four stanzas of four lines each. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter (a rigid rhythm). This could echo the never-ending suffering and misery in London. The enjambment (sentences flowing over the end of lines) has a similar effect
Structure and Form of London
Shifting focus
The first part of the poem describes the deprivation and misery in London.
The focus shifts in stanza 3 to those who Blake feels are responsible for this (the “black’ning church” and “palace”).
In the final stanza, the poet emphasises how widespread the problem is. It affects even those who have just been born.
This further emphasises how inescapable the deprivation is.
Structure and Form of London
Dramatic monologue
Dramatic Monologue
The poem is written in the form of a dramatic monologue.
The reader gets a strong sense of the speaker’s personal anger and frustration about the pain he sees around him.
Metaphor
“Runs in blood down palace walls”.
This metaphor emphasises that the monarchy are guilty of living in luxury while doing nothing to alleviate (lessen) the struggles of the city.
Colour imagery
Colour imagery of “black’ning church” is associated with ideas of corruption and even death.
Sensory language
Sensory language is used to bring the horror of London at this time alive.
Examples include:
“Cry of fear”.
“Marks of weakness, marks of woe”.
Vivid language
Vivid verbs, like “curse” and “blast”, exacerbate (make worse) the horrors of London.
Repetition of “every”
Repetition of “every” throughout heightens the sense that the problem is widespread.
Emotive language
The language throughout the poem is emotive.
The emotive language expresses not only the extent of the suffering but also Blake’s anger at the institutions that fail to help.
Examples include:
“Weakness”.
“Woe”.
“In every infant’s cry of fear”.
“Blasts the newborn infant’s tear”.
“I wander through each chartered street…”
“I wander through each chartered street / Near where the chartered Thames does flow”.
Something that is chartered is listed and regulated.
Repetition of “chartered” highlights the extent of government authority: they even have control over rivers, which are usually associated with nature and freedom.
“The mind-forged manacles I hear”
“Mind-forged manacles” could also hint that people are trapped by their attitudes, which prevent them from living better lives.
