London - William Blake (1794)

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• 1794: 100 years after the start of the industrial revolution
• ‘chimney sweepers cry’: children worked in factories as young as 6 years old
• Blake was a religious Christian but disliked the Church

Question 2

Form & Structure

Answer 2

• Rhyme scheme ABAB
• cyclical structure
• some in iambic tetrameter
• quatrains

Question 3

What type of power?

Answer 3

• authority
• religion
• man’s power: industrial revolution

Question 4

“mark in every face I meet”

“marks of weakness, marks of woe”

Answer 4

Two different meanings:

Line 3: ‘mark in’

• mark in: to notice
• poets frustration with the changing nature of the city
• supported by the fact that he leaves London a few years after the poem is written

Line 4: ‘marks of weakness, marks of woe’

• physical marks, signs
• not in iambic tetrameter, unstressed and weak
• suggests the weakness of the suffering in London

Question 5

“Every black’ning church”

Answer 5

• Literally:*
• the churches are getting darker because of industrial revolution
• Metaphorically:*
• Black’ning: colour symbolism represents the evil in the church.
• the coruptness of the church

Question 6

‘mind-forged menacles’

Answer 6

• alliterative metaphor: emphasises the restriction of people’s minds, the city has robbed them of the ability to think, further links the mind to the restriction of the menacles
• menacles: handcuffs used on criminals

Question 7

3-4 quotes

Answer 7

‘mind-forged menacles’

“Every black’ning church”

“mark in every face I meet”

“marks of weakness, marks of woe”