Key Quotes

• The opening “I wander thro” shows the poem is structured as a journey.
• Repetition of “charter’d” suggests London is owned and people have been robbed of their rights.
• In stanza two, the repetition of “every” suggests the enormity of poverty from children through to adults.
• Blake places blame on the church and state – “black’ning Church” and “Runs in blood down Palace walls”.
• “blights with plagues” suggests everything good is destroyed. “Plagues” implies decay and pestilence.