The poem “London” is one of the poems that was published in Songs of Experiences, which was written by William Blake.  Blake wrote this poem in the perspective of a pedestrian who is wondering the streets of London during the late 18th century, and poem is what the pedestrian sees during his walk.   The poem “London” shows through the observations of a random pedestrian the dark side of London which shows him how controlling the government is, the corruptness of the church, and how unethical the people of London are during the late 18th century.

The speaker of the poem shows how the British government exploits its soldiers, and also control what their people think and say. The speaker shows how the government has the people of London minds under control, and how they control what they when he says, “In every voice, in every ban/ The mind-forged manacles” (lines 7-8).   The first line shows how the government created restrictions on what the people of London can say, and how they are not able to talk freely. The second line shows how the government controls the thoughts of the people, and how the government makes the people of London think what they want them to think.  The speaker shows how the government exploits its people when the he says, “And the hapless soldier’s sigh/ Runs in blood down Palace walls” (11-12).   These lines illustrate how the country wasn’t built by the monarch’s sacrifices and bloodshed, but from the soldiers bloodshed.  The soldiers are the ones that made sacrifices and in some cases gave their life’s to see the monarchy prosper.   While the monarch and societies elite did not make any sacrifices themselves they were just the ones who order the soldiers to make those sacrifices.  The speaker illustrates how the people London feel about the government exploiting its soldiers and how the government controlled what the people thought and said when he says, “A mark in every face I meet/ Marks of Weakness, marks of woe” (3-4).  Those two lines illustrates the unhappiness of the people of London because of how controlling the government is.  The government was not the only contributor to people’s unhappiness the church also played a role in that too.

During this time the Church of England was one of the most powerful establishments in England.  While the main role of any church is to help people in need the Church of England did the exact opposite of that during this time.  The church did not help the needy, but instead they exploited the needy. The speaker illustrates that when he says, “How the Chimney-Sweeper’s cry” (9).  During these time chimney sweepers were children who usually belonged to poor families, or in some cases were just orphans.  Instead of helping these unfortunate children the church would exploit them for cheap labor.  The speaker was so disgusted by the church he says, “Every blackening church appalls” (10).  The speaker shows how that church has become so wicked and evil that it has become appalling.  While the speaker showed how the government and church have been inflecting pain on the people of London he also shows how the people cannot just blame those two establishments for all of their pain but also have to blame themselves.

The speaker shows in the poem that the people of the London were not saints at all, and actually very unethical people.  The speaker shows this when he said, “How the youthful Harlot’s curse/ Blasts the new-born infant’s tears” (14-15).  In this line he shows how young girls would have to become prostitutes, and because of their line of work ultimately become pregnant.  The only thing about the baby that the prostitute would birth it would be with disease.  During this time in London syphilis was a diseased that infected many prostitutes, and when these prostitutes would have babies those babies would have birth defects because of the syphilis.  The writer talks about how disease effect the man who was with prostitute when he says, “And blights with plagues the marriage hearse” (16).  He shows how the disease is going to be carried into the marriage, and infect the wife in that relationship.  He conveys that this disease will ultimately destroy the marriage. What the speaker shows through this is that the people are evil too, and cannot blame the government and the church for all of their misfortunes.

   The poem “London” shows through the observations of a random pedestrian the dark side of London which shows him how controlling the government is, the corruptness of the church, and how unethical the people of London are during the late 18th century.  The speaker shows how the church wouldn’t help the needy and instead exploit them, and how the government would control the minds of the people and how the monarch would use the soldiers as ponds and sacrifice them without second thought.   What he also conveyed through the poem is the people were route of the evil, showing how wicked and how evil they were during that time. This poem shows what London was really like during the late 18th century. 
