Context

• In industrial London, there was mass migration leading to overpopulation, this was due to the amount of work for people in the city because of the new, advanced technology and the lack of jobs in the countryside, this new machinery led to thick smog in London.
• The poem ‘London‘ comes from a collection of poems called ‘songs of experience’ as it was exposed to the corruption and suffering and the harsh reality of the new changed world, opposite to the naivety and beauty of ‘songs of innocence’ - the other half of the collection.
• William Blake saw the Churches as corrupted and hypocritical
• Blake had very radical political views, which was uncommon at the time, he was very anti-monarchy and wanted a revolution to fix that, he also believed in equality for both genders and taught his wife how to read and write.