London

• Charred


  Connoting restriction
• Mind-forged


  Connoting restriction
• Mark


  Connoting restriction
• Manacle


  Connoting restriction
• Semantic field of oppression
• Blake chooses words that connote restriction
• The "Thames" is described as naturally free flowing


  Becoming "charred" which connotes restriction
• "Charted"

  Connotes restriction and shows sheer control of authorities
• "Charted" refers to rights and privileges
• Blake is implicitly highlighting how this restriction derives from those who are privileged
• Blake politically critiques the abuse of power by the establishment
• Their oppression is so severe that it has formed the "manacle" around individual minds
• Manacles are made with metal bands intertwined together, mimicking how Londoners are intertwined with their misery and oppression
• What words does Blake choose which connote restriction?


  Charted, mind-forged manacles, mark
• Blackning'


  Staining: implies the establishment of the church is fading and staining the true meaning of religion
• Blake is not criticising religion but is criticising the corruptness that pervaded an establishment to act in God's name
• Corruption of your


  new
• Anaphora


  Mimics the cyclical & semipiternal torturing the citizens in London are subject to
• Infant's cry of fear


  Emphasizes the magnitude of suffering in London
• Innocence has been stolen & fainted by exploitation
• Blake blaming the church, especially new-born infants as tear
• Memory of fear and distress is depicted through the youth in stanza 2 & 4
• The quatrains & regular ABAB rhyme shows the oppression and restriction the lower classes were subject to
• Iambic tetrameter heightens the motif of oppression that permeates the poem
• The 3rd stanza HEAR, with the beginning letter of each word spelling out HEAR, is Blake trying to encourage the audience to use their senses to witness and stand up to the injustice around them
• Enjambment & end stops


  Blake uses a mix to replicate the illusion of freedom, where end stops caused lines to pause & stop replicating how the lives of those who live in London are stopped and broken by authorities that control them