In ‘London’, by William Blake, the narrator of the poem describes a walk through the city of London.
It’s a poem from 1794, so it’s not the London we think of today, but the London of King George III.
The narrator walks through the streets near the river Thames, and notices how everyone he sees
looks sad and troubled. The cry of a man, the cry of a child, and every voice he hears make
him realise that people are held captive, mentally as well as physically. The poem suggests that this
suffering is caused by those in power: the church, landowners, the monarchy and the government.
The poem comes from the collection ‘Songs of Experience’,
which presents a harsh view of a world corrupted by humans.
Now this is just a quick recap of the poem for revision purposes – for
more details see my full analysis video, which I’ll link at the end.
William Blake was born in 1757 in London,
where he lived for most of his life. Blake was a poet, painter and printmaker.
Blake often wrote about rebelling against the misuse of power and class.
Let’s look at some of the repetition in the poem,
starting with the use of the word ‘chartered’ in the opening two lines:
I wander through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
Between 1760 and 1820, approximately 6 million acres of land in England was taken into private
ownership –a ‘charter’ was the name given to the document explaining who owned what
So, the first usage of ‘chartered’ could refer to the fact that the properties
around the speaker were privately owned. However, the repetition of the word is more
ironic: ‘the chartered Thames does flow’. Here we see the forcing of human power and control
onto something natural: the river Thames. There is (as we see in lots of the poems in this cluster)
a juxtaposition of the power of nature and the power of man. Man would seek to charter,
control and organise everything, even something as uncontrollable and natural as the river.
the poem has a repetitive structure: it’s written entirely in quatrains with the rhyme scheme
ABAB. the repetitive stanza structure and rhyme scheme reflects the relentless,
repetitive and overwhelming suffering in the city.
The whole text structure is also significant: stanzas one and two
focus on the people who are suffering, whereas stanza three explores the causes of the suffering:
the Church, Industrialisation, land owners and the monarchy. The final stanza returns to the
focus of those who are suffering. By ending with the same topic as the poem began with,
the poet is implementing a cyclical, repetitive structure
which once again highlights the inescapable fate of those in the city: it goes round in
circles. Just when you think you’ve got to the end, you’re back at the beginning again.
Not everything follows a strict structural pattern, however.
Most of the poem is written in iambic tetrameter. This means lines of eight syllables,
with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. The repetition of this meter is
yet another example of repetition to reflect the inescapable life the poor of London have. However,
not everything is written in this meter. Some lines contain seven syllables, like line four.
marks of weakness, marks of woe. In a line pointing out the weakness of
those who are suffering, the line itself becomes weak in its syllable use: it contains less than
the previous lines. Blake weakens the line here to reflect the weakness of those who are suffering.
We also see repetition of the word ‘mark’ in the opening stanza:
And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
The first example is ‘mark in every face’, meaning
‘notice in every face’. Then we move to ‘marks of weakness, marks of woe’, meaning ‘signs of
weakness, signs of woe’. So, the same word is used, but now with a different meaning:
the decision to use the same word three times in two lines is clearly significant: the repetition
highlights the inescapable repetitive suffering of those in the poem. However, the use of a word with
changing meanings could also reflect the poet’s frustration at the changing nature of London.
again at the hands of those in power. Clearly Blake did not agree with these changes – it was
shortly after writing this poem that he left London, albeit for just a few short years.
So, one of the causes of suffering is the misuse of power through the chartering of
‘each chartered street’ and ‘the chartered Thames’, which saw the rich getting richer and
the poor being more heavily controlled, widening the gap between the poor and those in power.
the hapless soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down palace walls.
To understand this image we need to know a little bit about the French Revolution. The French
Revolution was influenced by the Enlightenment, with its overthrow of the monarchy and striving
for political freedom. However, the French Revolution devolved into bloodshed and chaos,
bringing home the evil of mankind. There was so much bloodshed that the phrase ‘blood was
running down the walls’ became popular. Blake is suggesting that the unhappiness
of the British soldier could lead to a similar uprising if its causes were ignored.
The reference to palace suggests that the monarchy is to blame too.
So, to conclude, the poor are suffering because of the abuse of power from the Church, monarchy,
government and rich land owners. And what is the result? Let’s look at the final image of the poem:
the marriage hearse Here we have an oxymoron: two words together which
seem to contradict each other. How can the happy image of marriage be linked to the image of death
associated with a hearse? This negative image suggests that what was so good – the London of
old, is destined to be destroyed. It’s a powerful ending to a challenging poem which criticises
those in positions of power – be it the monarchy, government, organised religion or land owners.
The misuse of power by all of these groups leads to widespread suffering and despair.
If you found this video useful please do pick up a copy of Mr Bruff’s Guide to Power and Conflict
poetry, available exclusively in eBook form and linked in the description. If you like
this shorter style of analysis video do give it a thumbs up and I will make some more!