Verb "wander" makes it sound purposeless, reflecting how he feels powerless to change what's happening
Adjective "chartered" suggests restriction and control implying that even the streets of London are governed by commercial and legal regulations that limit the freedom of its citizens
Sets the tone for the poem's examination of oppression
What poems can be compared to London?
Individual experience: The prelude, The emigree
Human power: Ozymandias, Tissue
"Marks of weakness, marks of woe"
Repetition of "marks" emphasises the existence of suffering in the city, no relief from it
"The mind forged manacles I hear"
The metaphor illustrates how the people of London are trapped not only by physical constraints but also by the ideological ones imposed by society
Suggests their hopelessness and they can be blamed as they're trapped by their own attitudes
"every blackening church appals"
Shows anger towards all forms of power as they have power to make a change but don't
Verb "blackening" suggests corruption or the idea of smoke pollution attacking the walls linking to industrial revolution
Blake emphasised social injustice criticising the Monarch and the Church for their psychological oppression of the poor
"blights with plagues the marriage hearse"
Powerful nouns "blights" and "plagues" hints at something uncontrollable and can possibly affect lots of people
Oxymoron "marriage hearse" links the idea of happiness and death showing that everything is in turmoil, also used to show how everything is affected and nothing pure or innocent remains
cyclical structure conveys never ending suffering and implies to the reader that they will keep suffering until they break the cycle and rebel against society as the French did
