
The poem “London” from songs of experience was written in 1794. During this time London was in turmoil. There were diseases and corruption surrounding the city and everything in it. William Blake is a romantic poet who uses words very symbolically to really get his point across. To see just what the poem actually means one must dig deep into each of the words used to find what they stand for. To find out why Blake is trying to explain that London isn’t as it seems.

In the first stanza Blake says “I wander thro’ each chartered street,” (line 1). When he uses the word charter he is saying the roads are mapped which might not seem to out of the ordinary. But then in the next line “Near where the chartered Thames does flow,” (2). Blake uses the same word chartered. But now he says the chartered Thames. This is different because a city usually doesn’t have chartered river. This changes the poem a little bit cause now Blake is inferring that every part of the city is planned out for a certain reason. Even down to the flow of the river and the way it flows. In the next line Blake says “A mark in every face I meet,” (3). Blake is saying he sees something in all the faces he meets. Then in the very next line he says “Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (4). Blake uses the word marks again which shows he sees these marks in the people he meets and there must be something wrong. Just through the first stanza one can see that Blake is trying to show that nothing is random in the city and that there is something wrong with the people in the city. If everything is there for a reason, then the city must know why there are marks of weakness on the peoples’ faces. 

In the second stanza of the poem Blake says in the first three lines “In every cry of every Man, / In every Infant’s cry of fear, / In every voice, in every ban,” (Lines 5-7). He uses the word every over and over showing the exaggeration of all the things he hears. Then in the last line of the stanza he says “The mind-forged manacles I hear:” (8). By mind-forged manacles he is saying they are mentally unstable due to the corruption and wrong doing going on in their city. So these people are crying because they are so mentally unstable. 

In the third stanza Blake then begins to talk about the church and the royalty in the city. He begins to explain the corruption in the church in the first two sentences of the third stanza by saying “How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every blackening Church appalls,” (9-10). This shows that church is blackening both literally and figuratively. Figuratively because the church is taking advantage of the innocent lower class and continues to take advantage of them. In a literal sense, because their chimneys are actually getting darker and they are paying these kids little to nothing to clean them which is taking advantage of them. In the next two lines Blake shows the corruption in the royalty by saying “And the hapless Soldier’s sigh / Runs in blood down Palace-walls” (11-12). This shows corruption because the lower class soldiers are sent to fight these wars that the royal people want to win but don’t fight for themselves. So now the blood of these soldiers are on royalty’s hands so it is figuratively running down the palace walls. With all of the corruption in the church and the royalty. It has caused the mental instability that is explained in the second stanza.

In the fourth and final stanza. The poet starts by writing in the first two lines “But most, through midnight streets I hear/ How the youthful Harlot’s curse” (3-14). These lines talk about how while traveling through the street the author can hear the youthful prostitutes curse. One might question these lines because how can you hear a curse. But then in the next two lines Blake says “Blasts the new-born infant’s tear, / And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.” (15-16). These may be the most important lines in the whole poem because Blake brings it full circle. Blake is trying to say that the mistakes cause death in the marriage. During this time in London there were a variety of STD’s being passed around including in prostitutes. When connecting the whole fourth stanza one can see that the plagues that infect and destroy a marriage comes from the infidelity of the man who chooses to sleep with the youthful prostitute, causing him to get an STD that the prostitute may carry. Then to only go back to his wife and have a baby who has tears because the diseases cause something to be wrong with the kid. Which is why he can hear the curse as he walks through the street. Blake is also trying to show that this is a vicious cycle that is all caused by the decision that the man makes. So yes the government and the city is corrupt but at the same time the people are causing harm to themselves as well.

Throughout this poem Blake is trying to say that London isn’t as it seems. He shows in the first stanza that nothing is random everything is planned out down to the river. So the royalty and church knows that there are marks of weakness on the people’s face. Then in the second stanza Blake shows the people are mentally unstable. The third stanza shows the corruption in the church and royalty and how they are using the lower class. The last stanza shows the infidelity in the marriages. The last stanza also shows that the people’s life is a vicious cycle of corruption from birth. All these details show exactly what the poem means both literally and figuratively while showing the symbols and what they mean as well.
