London

• London


  A poem by William Blake published in 1794 that tells the story of a speaker walking through the city of London and noticing suffering all around them
• London was published in Blake's poetry collection called Songs of Innocence and Experience
• Songs of Experience


  Explores how the world, power and life in general can corrupt people
• Songs of Innocence


  Focuses mostly on the naivety of childhood
• Blake wrote the poem to illustrate how London, the city he loved, was changing beyond recognition due to its industrialisation
• Blake also wanted to show how many people living in the city were being forgotten by those with wealth and power
• Much of Blake's poetry sought to highlight the difference between social classes and improve the welfare of others
• Romantic era

  A literary era of poetry (from the late 18th and early 19th Century) which focused more on feeling and nature
• Industrialisation


  Changes in the way products are made. Production is based in factories and more of the work is done by machines
• Concerns about rapid industrialisation are reflected in London
• The poem criticises the greed and imbalance of the power that the Industrial Revolution created between wealthy factory owners and their workers
• The Romantics wanted people to prioritise creativity and individuality and these values were in direct contrast to those of the Industrial Revolution
• Blake wanted to point out the ways that London was changing and highlight the suffering that many people living in London were facing as a result of the greed of those in powerful positions
• Juxtapose

  To place two contrasting things closely together
• Chartered

  Owned by rich landowners, written on maps, or someone's property
• Metaphor


  Symbolises or represents something else without using the words 'like' or 'as'
• Mind-forg'd manacles

  Chains or confinement that have been imagined
• First person

  When a narrator tells the story from their own point of view
• Emotive language


  Language that explores or evokes emotion
• Repetition


  Using the same word or phrase multiple times to emphasise a point
• Quatrain

  A stanza made up of four lines
• ABAB rhyme scheme


  Alternating lines rhyme with each other
• Iambic tetrameter


  A line that contains four sets of two beats, with the first beat unstressed and the second beat stressed
• Blake wanted to reflect the monotony of machinery being used during the Industrial Revolution and also his feelings that nothing will change for the better through the use of quatrains, ABAB rhyme scheme, and iambic tetrameter
• London


  The capital of (arguably) the most important country in the world at the time
• William Blake


  • English poet and artist, writing during the Romantic literary era
  • Lived in London for most of his life, saw it as corrupted by greed and inequality
  • Used poetry to try and instigate change
  • Wrote using simple language so his message was accessible to all
  • Stood against oppressing women and supported equality
• William Blake was considered to have radical political views
• Blake was anti-monarchy and wanted a revolution to remove it, thinking that revolution was inevitable and necessary
• Blake identified as Christian, but rejected organised religion and established church because he saw it as corrupt and hypocritical
• The French Revolution became an inspiration for many radicals as it was a symbol of how the disenfranchised and oppressed could seize power from the privileged
• England transformed into an industrial power during the Industrial Revolution, which led to most of London being covered in smog from factories and industrialisation
• The term "Chartered"


  Government gave the wealthy exclusive rights to land and resources that had been previously owned in common, which meant the wealthy started owning monopolies of land
• Songs of Experience


  A poetry collection that exposed the corruption and suffering / the harsh reality of the new, changed world and the social issues (such as poverty, child labour and prostitution) that were attached to it
• London has no companion poem in the "Innocence" collection, as the gist of the poem is that London is unambiguously and indubitably corrupt
• London


  • Explores the theme of authoritarian abuses of power
  • 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
  • Employs an immensely negative tone, which replicates Blake's own disillusionment with the government, monarchy, and the Church
• Repetition of "marks"

  Demonstrates the permanent impact of the place's power with wide-reaching and exception-free extent, and suggests the citizens are branded by their experiences
• Adjective "blackening"

  At surface level an acknowledgement of the soot and smoke that polluted London, but figuratively a criticism of the moral blackening of the church and its failure to provide for the disadvantaged
• Juxtaposed connotations of new beginnings, joy and happiness of wedding

  With the end of life and grief of a hearse
• First-person speaker

  Speaking passionately about what he sees and experiences, in a conversational tone to make the poem feel accessible
• 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, suggesting suffering is never ending