London

• 'chartered street' and 'chartered thames'

  • 'chartered' - ownership an controlment of land
  • juxtaposes 'thames' - river - can flow freely - nature cannot be controlled
  • Blake is critisizing the institutions which try and oppress and control nature
  • suggesting power of man is weaker than nature
• 'mind forged manacles '

  • Blake reflects on the institution's oppression - it has become so strong that it has formed internal suffering
  • 'manacles' - symbolic of the internal oppression, causing people to become enslaved by their willingness to accept suffering and social norms due to institutions
  • Blake creates imagery of imrpinsonment and control, in order to crtiqique the lack of freedom the people have
• 'every black'ning church appalls'

  • reference to the corrupt churches and institutions in London who where using people for their money
  • moral blackening of churches
  • Blake reflects upon the moral blackening and corruption of institutions such as churches as he critiques the staining of true religeon due to the churches using people for their money rather than helping those to a disadvantgae in society
• 'in every infants cry of fear'

  • 'infant' should have traditional connotations of innocence and purity however this juxtaposes with 'cry of fear' as it suggests the ill treatment of children in this time
  • Blake suggests and critiques the inescapable suffering that every person is under in London, even the children
  • 'in every' - cyclical cycle of suffering - even the young children already suffer despite being new to this world.
• who was William Blake?

  • Romantic poet - believed the beauty of nature was being shattered by the oppression of mankind.
  • Anti establishment
  • supporter of the french revolution
• why was Blake a supporter of the french revolution

  • he desired the same democracy and freedom for the people in Britain
  • He uses the poem of london to both critique and encourage people to take a stand for freedom and overcome the oppressional institutions
• why does Blake use constistant iambic pentameter?

  • to refelct and replicate the control and the motif of oppression