The world in 1794 was not a “happy” place by anyones standards especially compared to today.  It was completely acceptable and almost welcomed to have overcontroling governments and extreme division between social classes.  This included healthcare, nutrition and just general quality of life.  This concept was widespread thoughout late 18th century London.  There was a large gap between the extreme upper class including monarchs, parliament, wealthy land owners and the middle and lowerclass peasants and servants.  This status quo of the rich leading wonderful and extravagant lifestyles while the lower class are barely able to stay alive and many dying while serving the upper class is seen in the literature of the time.  This concept is called into question in William Blake’s “London”.  Throughout the poem there are a few different key notes given by the speaker.  The main points in William Blake’s “London” are that in the society’s restriction, everything has a silver lining and that society sets up the youth for failure and death.  This poem is written at the beginning of a new era of revolution.  It is a phenomenal piece that sparks thought concerning the awful conventions of the time.

The first focus of the speaker in “London” exhibits the governmental restrictions of the time and of the city.  Prior to the writing of this poem there were not any governments “Of the People”.  The stigma of the time was that you did as the governments or monarchs told unless you wanted to die at their hands.  “I wander thro’ each chartered street” (line 1).  Now this some say would make sense a “Chartered” or restricted street, this although seemingly ordinary exist fully based on the government and their obsessive need for control over everything.  The need for control over everything brings me to “Near where the chartered Thames does flow” (2) the concept of this statement alone is absolutely absurd, the motivation one has to attempt to control the Thames river should not even register as a possiblitiy.  It is one thing to have the desire and will to control the city layout and infrastructure, however controlling a free flowing aspect of nature is another thing completely.  Returning to the “chartered Thames” (2), a possible conclusion to be made over the statement in line 2 of the poem is that the control and restriction being placed on the cities structure and on the cities people in turn restricts an aspect of nature that should not be controlled or restricted by anything.  In addition, the restriction placed on persns of the city does more than restrict their actions “A mark in every face I meet, / Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (3-4).  This reveals the hurt and tragedy that can be seen by all people, the government should never hurt the spirit or will a person has.  In this piece the speaker shows how the restrictions of the time hurt people to the core of their existence.  Simialarly to the situation with the river, “In every voice, in every ban, / The mind-forged manacles I hear” (7-8) shows how even beyond the bans and restrictions placed on the citizens and residents, it is the culture that brings the people to start restricting themselves; not just restrictions placed by the government.  

As mentioned previously, the system of this time period was that the poor and lower class worked, served and often died to create and sustain the life that the nobles and monarchs were accustomed to living.  Blake really calls this to attention in the line “How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every blackening Church appalls” (9-10).  This brings in the common corruption found in many churches of the time, showing how the young chimney sweepers cry and reside in awful living conditions while leaders of the church are living without a care in the world.  This introduces the concept of a silver lining.  In which all aspects of the city look wonderful to those viewing the popular areas, such as the beautiful churches of the time, yet it is just a shining cover up of the awful and terrible things that must happen to make the churches look prestigious and magnificent.  Following lines 9 and 10 “And the hapless Soldier’s sigh / Runs in blood down Palace-walls” (11-12) once again brings up the idea that lower class citizens are used almost as “pawns” of the government; they are the governments expendable resources. 

The world in 1794 was filled with disease that spread like wildfire throughout the lower class.  Specifically, the sexually transmitted disease syphilis was especially dangerous at this time.  The problem was that many did not know they were infected.  They also did not know that it would cause many birth defects transmitted from the mother to child during pregnancy.  The poem references “How the youthful Harlot’s curse / Blasts the new-born infant’s tear” (14-15).  The youthful harlot was a young prostitute of the time.  With syphilis running through the cities during this time, the harlots curse could very well be syphilis or any STD that causes birth defects that could be the “new-born infant’s tear”.  This poem brings to surface the many underlying problems of the time.  Blake brings in the health risk of the time to show how the dynamic of the cities did nothing but set the youth and the next generation up for failure. 

The poem “London” by William Blake as a whole defies the common convention that you can not speak out againt the government or leadership of the cities.  Blake references that the controlling of the city streets only hurts the lower class citizens of the city.  The way that the cities were run and governed created a huge split between the ultra wealthy and the less fortunate.  This poem reveals that the perfect world seen by the nobles and upper class was nothing more than a pretty covering over the sacrifice and support of those less fortunate that have to work and die for the upper class. The remarkable thing Blake accomplished by writing and revealing this poem to the public is that fighting back publicly against the oppressive and overreaching government of the time, reveals the many moral and civil issues of the time.  Blake was able to become a civil warrior for those oppressed in the 18th century, leading the way for many to follow. 
