London - William Blake
A Stark Critique of Urban Oppression
Original (Line 1): I wander thro' each charter’d street,
English (Line 1): I wander through each chartered street,
Original (Line 2): Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
English (Line 2): Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
Original (Line 3): And mark in every face I meet
English (Line 3): And see in every face I encounter
Original (Line 4): Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
English (Line 4): Traces of weakness and sorrow.
Original (Line 5): In every cry of every Man,
English (Line 5): In every cry of every Man,
Original (Line 6): In every Infant’s cry of fear,
English (Line 6): In every Infant’s trembling cry,
Original (Line 7): In every voice, in every ban,
English (Line 7): In every voice, in every decree,
Original (Line 8): The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
English (Line 8): I hear the manacles forged by the mind.
Original (Line 9): How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
English (Line 9): How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Original (Line 10): Every black’ning Church appalls,
English (Line 10): Appalls every blackening Church,
Original (Line 11): And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
English (Line 11): And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Original (Line 12): Runs in blood down Palace walls.
English (Line 12): Runs in blood along the Palace walls.
Original (Line 13): But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
English (Line 13): But most, through midnight streets, I hear
Original (Line 14): How the youthful Harlot’s curse
English (Line 14): The curse of the youthful Harlot
Original (Line 15): Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear,
English (Line 15): That destroys the newborn Infant’s tear,
Original (Line 16): And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
English (Line 16): And with its plagues taints the Marriage hearse.
Full text of William Blake’s London (1794), from Songs of Experience. Public domain.
William Blake’s “London,” published in his 1794 collection Songs of Experience, presents a stark vision of oppression within the rapidly industrializing city. The speaker walks the streets of London, observing how the city’s institutions—political, religious, and social—collaborate to confine and degrade its people. Repeated references to everything being “charter’d” highlight a sense of ownership and restriction, suggesting a landscape mapped out for profit rather than community well-being.
Central to the poem is the idea of “mind-forg’d manacles,” indicating that these oppressive forces go beyond physical constraints. Psychological chains—feelings of despair, guilt, and resignation—hold the inhabitants captive. From the sorrowful cries of chimney-sweepers to the soldier’s fatal sigh running down palace walls, the poem underscores how each social class suffers under institutional failures.
In the final stanza, Blake sets a bleak scene of a “youthful Harlot,” depicting how desperation and vice are both products of, and contributors to, the city’s relentless cycle of misery. Even sacred bonds, like marriage, are tainted as the “Marriage hearse” conjoins the ideas of union and death. Ultimately, “London” challenges readers to acknowledge the systemic inequalities that overshadow ideals of freedom and human dignity, calling out the moral responsibility to confront such injustices.
Key points
1. Blake’s “London” critiques social, religious, and political institutions for fostering oppression.
2. The recurring image of “charter’d” spaces highlights the commodification and control of public life.
3. Psychological bondage, or “mind-forg’d manacles,” reveals inner as well as outer forms of captivity.
4. The poem’s bleak ending underscores the destructiveness of systemic inequality and hopelessness.
