London

• 2 quotes on london

  • “Mind-forged manacles”
  • ”blackening church”
• "mind forged manacles"

  • "manacles"= handcuffs
  • meta "mind-forgd manacles"= feeling of inescapable imprisonment suffered by the people of London
  • "manacles" are "mind-forgd" creating by individuals as a consequence of their oppression
  • image of "mind-forgd manacles"= intangible and so impossible to remove or unlock
  • blake creates powerful image of horrifying psychological torture inflicted on the inhabitants of london
• "blackening church"

  • B exposes how "church" = a place that is supposed to be a symbolic of purity peace...= "blacken[ed]" because of the injustice of child labour
  • lit= buildings of London are blackened = soot - industrialisation
  • symb= church is "blacken[ed]" = corruption and failure to preserve the innocence of children
  • perhaps religion is corrupted- blasphermous
• comparison:

  • WP
  • Tissue
  • CMOH
  • EMIGREE
• structure:

  cyclical structure=  the 1st/2nd stanza focuses on the impacts on people, the 3rd explores the source of suffering and 4th goes back to the impact again= suffering is perpetual
• who wrote london?


  Blake
• summary:

  blake describes the desolation of london caused by the institutions critising them for constricting london