LONDON

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

London - Context

William Blake (1757-1827)

Blake was radical poet and painter.

London at the time was the centre of what was becoming the biggest empire in history.

It was also a city of contrasts with rich and poor living close together. Blake was concerned with the suffering of ordinary people in the mist of immense wealth and power.

In 1789 the French Revolution happened. People rose up against the ruling class and seized power. This inspired radicals in Britain, including Blake, to ask whether it could happen there.

So in this poem, Blake is challenging authority and the abuse of power.

London - Analysis of key lines

I wandered through each chartered street

The word 'chartered' here suggests that the streets have been bought and in the second line event he river has been bought, implying humans attempting to control nature as they do to other humans in the following lines.

The mind-forged manacles I hear.

These are mental chains (manacles are the metal bands for fastening a person's hands or ankles), as if society can create prisons of the mind that stop even from thinking freely.

The hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls.

Soldiers, often considered heroic, are here seen as unfortunate, since they are sent out to be sacrificed by the powerful who sit in palaces (the monarch and the politicians). The soldier's blood runs down the walls of the powerful, suggesting their guilt.

And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.

This last phrase is an oxymoron that suggests that the hypocritical gentlemen who frequent prostitutes (the youthful harlot two lines before) will marry a young lady and the marriage, which should be joyful and lead to new life, will lead the bride to their grave when the husband passes on sexually transmitted disease (which, in Blake's time, could prove fatal).

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