London (Blog Post #1)

Blog Post #1

Mary Rose Donahue

London

Songs of Experience - William Blake

In the William Blake’s poem, "London" Blake writes four stanzas filled with woe and unrest of living in a city with ever-increasing urbanization and industrialism overtaking the natural life. His intense distain makes itself immediately present to the reader, making them question their own perception of the city, and by extension, human society in general. Blake utilizes an ABAB alternating rhyme scheme throughout the whole poem, providing consistency for the reader without jarring them with different schemes or unnecessary stresses. "London" is essentially a rant from Blake's perspective about his personal anger and annoyance at the intense industrialization of the city and how it infects every aspect of London life.

Blake begins the poem commenting on the, "chartered street" and, "Chartered Thames".  Each street that is chartered is done so in order to give order to the city and is a typical practice, nothing too unusual for Blake to comment on. However, it is far more unusual for Blake to consider the Thames chartered as well. Chartering a river is the first example of the power of human industrialization taking over the natural world in this poem. The double use of the word “chartered” draws the reader’s attention to the importance of the order given to his world. The chartering is not limited to just the streets, but the effects of human industrialization are later discussed by Blake as he continues his rant on human industry.

The characters found in this poem, the man, infant, chimney sweep, and harlot are not characterized by their appearances or personalities, but rather by their sorrowful cries and yells. In other words, people are characterized by what they produce, not necessarily who they truly are which is also reflected in the city. The people’s cries infect the rest of the city just as their industry affects the city. Blake emphasized this infection when he writes, “How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry/Every black’ning church appalls,/And the hapless Soldier’s sigh/Runs in blood down Palace walls.” The people not only suffer in their own self-pity, but by extension, the city suffers equally with blackened buildings and bloody palace walls. The horror found in people’s psyche across the city is able to transcend human experience and force itself into the streets and buildings of the city around the people. The horror is another example of human suffering reaching past the grasp of human life and taking hold beyond the people and infecting the whole city.

The ending of the poem additionally raises even greater issues. The infection of human suffering passes through the adult world and reaches into even the newborns of the city. The child of a Harlot is mentioned in the last stanza, “how the youthful Harlot’s curse/Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,/ And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse”. The infection of the prostitute by the city and the gross urbanization not only affects the woman in question, but also her newborn child. This newborn child, a character that typically represents intense innocence and new life has already been corrupted before they had a chance to prove themselves a positive force. The corruptible city has infected even the most innocent of citizens.

            Furthermore, this poem is found in Blake’s “Songs of Experience”, a collection of poems that highlight the negative and corrupt world of human life. This collection of poems juxtapose William Blake’s first collection of poems “Songs of Innocence” that focus more on the natural pastoral innocence of life. “London” as well as the other poems in Blake’s "Songs of Experience" collection point to and question the morality and way of life of many people in his society.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Blake_London.jpg