London Through WIlliam Blake's Eyes

William Blake's "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 Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear:


How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.


But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.


Blake, William. "London." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. Vol. D: The Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt, M.H. Abrams, Jack Stillinger, Deidre Shauna Lynch. New York: Norton, 2006. 94. Print.


"Blake's poems compound and compact meaning in a simple phrase, or an observation. He wrote about the ills of society and expresses an indignation toward them. Blake never lost the feeling that England was a pleasant land. He felt at odds with the war out there, and was isolated. He was not only a poet, but a visual artist, which is reflected in his poem, London."
Minor, Lisa. "William Blake." EN 212. University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. 18 January 2011. Lecture.

http://www.biographyonline.net/

Blake was definitely aware of the evils created by the world's hyprocisy. He beholds London through a very dark set of eyes. The people that he sees when he walks the streets are those of hardship and misery, as well as their harsh reality in the world. He uses the church, as well as images of war, and everyday life to clarify his point. I can only imagine how William Blake must have felt as he was writing this poem.