London

• Dramatic Monologue


  First-person speaker speaking passionately about what he sees and experiences, combined with simple language in an almost conversational tone
• Blake wanted his poetry to feel accessible to all members of society because it contains messages and views everyone should consider and take on
• The poem is written in first person to make it seem personal: this is the speaker's own experience of London, and his home and his views
• Cyclical Structure


  • The first/second stanzas focus on impact on people, the third explores the source of suffering, and the fourth goes back to the impact again. This suggests suffering is never ending and implies to the reader that they will keep suffering until they break the cycle and rebel against society
• Iambic Tetrameter


  Technique where the poet uses eight syllables in each line, with pairs of sounds going da-DA with the emphasis on the second syllable. This shows order and control, as the consistency of a rhythm provides a sense of the relentless oppression
• Rhyme Scheme and Stanza Length


  • Blake employs an ABAB rhyme scheme, along with consistent stanza lengths of quatrains (4 lines). This fixed structure enhances the sense of complete control and oppression, and highlights how suffering is relentless and never-ending
• The structural inconsistencies in the tight structure of the poem may reflect the possible opportunities members of Victorian society have to break free
• Alternatively, the breaks and structural weakening could serve to reflect the weakness of London's inhabitants, as they have been permanently weakened by the suffering they've endured, and this is the reason why they cannot stand up for justice or rebel against oppression
• The first letters of each line of the third stanza spell out HEAR, which could be a subliminal message to the reader to start listening to the signs of suffering around them, as well as listening to Blake's message, ultimately calling for recognition of society's ills
• The poem is set in London, the capital of (arguably) the most important country in the world at the time
• Blake was a hopeful poet who tried to use his talent at writing to motivate change, and maybe he hoped that readers of "London" would consider their own impact on the run down state of the city, and potentially how they could help improve it
• Blake suggests there is a huge issue with the divide between those in power and those completely void of it, relating to the huge wealth disparity affecting Victorian England
• The simplistic structure of four regular stanzas following an alternate rhyme scheme contrasts the complex, seemingly unending issues which Blake sets forth in his work
• The poet emphasises with those who have been hurt most by the capitalist structures which cause inequality within society, focusing on their misery
• The poem would probably have been considered revolutionary within Blake's society, as he is attacking the 'establishment'
• Blake employs an immensely negative tone, which replicates his own disillusionment with both the government and the monarchy, as well as the Church
• The line "marks of weakness, marks of woe" is only seven syllables, which breaks the iambic tetrameter employed for the rest of lines
• These breaks and structural weakening


  Could arguably serve to reflect the weakness of London's inhabitants, as they have been permanently weakened by the suffering they've endured, and this is the reason why they cannot stand up for justice or rebel against oppression
• The first letters of each line of the third stanza spell out HEAR (Hear Every And Runs)
• Some critics believe that this could be a subliminal message to his readers, considering Blake has focused on auditory signs of suffering throughout
• Auditory signs of suffering

  • "cry", "sigh", "curse", "I hear"
• Juxtaposition


  Contrasting phrases that have different connotations
• Blake was in favour of liberating women, and felt that marriage itself is an abuse of power, giving men the opportunity to abuse power over their wives
• Anaphora


  A word which refers to a previously used word
• The poem uses the phrase "in every", with "every" also repeated within the lines (seven times in total throughout poem)
• Semantic field


  A writer uses words which are linked by a theme or topic throughout a text or passage
• Blake presents oppression as stemming from privatisation, using the repetition of the word "chartered" in the phrases "each chartered street" and "chartered Thames does flow"
• Blake is also commenting on the oppression of nature by humans
• The cause of suffering in the poem is shown to be the institutions of power (monarchy, government, Church) people in London, and England in general, were subjected to
• Blake uses the physical features of London as symbols for the different forms of suffering and corruption present within the city
• The "chartered streets" serve to demonstrate the lack of freedom and privatisation induced by the industrial revolution
• The "hapless soldiers sigh" references the threat of military action that loomed in the aftermath of the French revolution
• Organised religion is also portrayed as a source of suffering for citizens of London in the poem, highlighted by the phrase "every black'ning church"
• Babies and children suffer; "in every infant's cry of fear"
• Children were used for child labour in Victorian era, and often forced to work by parents who desperately need the money
• Many women were condemned to immorality and prostitution just to make a living, as there were few jobs available to women at the time
• The motif that suffering is never ending is further emphasised by the poem's cyclical structure and narrative, which suggests suffering is internalized and inescapable because those who live in London won't act and rise up against their oppressors and institutions of authority who restrain them
• Oxymoron


  A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms
• Symbolism


  The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
• Blake employs the symbol of "mind forged manacles", which suggests the suffering of the citizens of London has become internalised