london

• 1. Blake presents negative effects of urbanisation and transcendentalism
• 2. presents his disdain for establishments

  • "I wander" -> "chartered" "chartered Thames"
  • "in every" - anaphora, insescapable suffering
  • "mind forged manacles" - power invented by humans but given to establishments
  • controlled structure
• 3. sees establishments as corrupt

  • "black'ning church" - Blake was man of faith
  • "hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls"
• 4. emphasis of those directly disadvantaged by power

  • "chimney-sweeper's cry" "youthful harlots curse" - class and loss of innocence
  • "blights with plagues the marriage hearse" - juxtaposition of new life and death