London

The poem’s opening establishes the poem’s premise: The speaker will accompany the reader on a journey through London. Readers see and hear the city from the speaker’s perception. In the first line, the speaker states, “I wander thro’ each charter’d street” (Line 1). The word “wander” (Line 1) implies some frivolity or joy, as though the speaker is having an adventure. However, the sense of freedom implied by “wander” (Line 1) fades with the word “charter’d” (Line 1). “[C]harter’d” (Line 1) implies the implementation of restrictions that inhibit not only the speaker but also the city. The speaker continues, “Near where the charter’d Thames does flow” (Line 2). The speaker repeats the word “charter’d” (Line 2), and the repetition reinforces and firmly establishes a sense of inescapable restriction. Misery begins to permeate the poem as the speaker notes that they observe “in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (Lines 3-4); in other words, everyone whom the speaker sees appears distraught or hopeless. These lines hint at the city’s oppressiveness, specifically because of the repetition of words like “mark” (Line 3) and “marks” (Line 4). The first stanza ends with the words “weakness” (Line 4) and “woe” (Line 4), which work together to show the consequences of the oppression of the public.

In the second stanza, the speaker begins a keen analysis of the city’s sorrows and horrors. The speaker continues to be surrounded by broken and dejected Londoners. These Londoners, who lived under one of the most restrictive time periods in England’s history, followed specific social protocols, and they lived under the threat of the death penalty for breaking laws. These threats form the “mind-forg’d manacles” (Line 8) the speaker says they hear. The speaker clarifies that they believe the government possesses too much control and that society is too strict. The speaker develops a despairing view of humankind, reiterating the restrictions the government places upon people by using the phrase “in every ban” (Line 7). The word “ban” (Line 7) reveals the speaker’s true perspective about society, and it becomes a metaphor for the society’s scrutiny of individual thoughts and expressions.

The poem’s third stanza carefully examines the speaker’s feelings regarding society and toward humanity, and they display an emotional awareness about what they see. The speaker begins by looking at the chimney sweepers, the poorest in society during Blake’s time. Because of the dirty conditions and harmful environment of chimney sweeping, these children had short life expectancies and suffered chronic illness. The speaker asserts that the “Chimney-sweepers cry” (Line 9) is a mark against the Church. The speaker criticizes the Church, which at that time also had a strong governmental role, for not intervening in the way the society treated not only the poor but also the children. The speaker turns their attention to the “hapless soldier” (Line 11). The speaker has already criticized society and the church, and by focusing on the “hapless soldier” (Line 11) whose “sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls” (Lines 11-12), they begin a criticism of the government. The speaker asserts that the soldiers are another victim of government corruption. The “Palace” (Line 12) is where English royalty live, and by depicting the “blood” (Line 12) running “down Palace walls” (Line 12), the speaker criticizes royalty for living comfortably while common people and common soldiers die.

In the poem’s final stanza, the speaker establishes a moral argument. They juxtapose innocence with corruption. The speaker hears “the youthful Harlots curse” (Line 14). The idea of “youthful Harlots” (Line 14) suggests the city’s extreme poverty and corruption; though it is not explicit just how “youthful” (Line 14) these young females are, it is possibly young enough to qualify them as minors, and they must resort to sex work for survival. The “Harlots curs[ing]” (Line 14) juxtaposes “the new-born Infants tear” (Line 15). The situation of the “Harlots”—essentially coerced sex for survival—is the ultimate attack upon innocence, and it is only emphatically punctuated by their “curse” against the “Infants tear,” yet another image of suffering innocence. The speaker is ambiguous and neither confirms nor denies whether the infant belongs to one of these girls who wander the street. The girls’ (or young women’s) cursing also reveals how the misery of the trade has hardened them and fostered rage.

The poem’s final line completes the thought from previous lines. The speaker hears “[h]ow the youthful Harlots curse” (Line 14) “blights with plagues the Marriage hearse” (Line 16) The young women angrily curse marriage, possibly because they feel abandoned or betrayed by the institution. A more symbolic reading of the curse might be that the speaker believes sex work is a detriment (or “plague”) to the sanctity and institution of marriage; in the poem’s contemporary London, society generally would have viewed sex work this way. This symbolic interpretation is disputable, as some of Blake’s work reflects the poet’s suspicion of marriage and his support for “free love.” Additionally, while the word “harlot” is a dated, derogatory term, it is also an archaic term that features in apocalyptic biblical scripture, and the fact that “Harlots” (Line 14) is capitalized (along with other nouns) in the poem suggests that Blake was tacitly invoking an almost archetypal figure.

The speaker’s attitude toward marriage is less ambiguous than his attitude toward the “Harlots”; the speaker refers to marriage as “the Marriage hearse” (Line 16), which implies death. By concluding the poem with a criticism of marriage—suggesting that it takes a person’s life away instead of enriching it—the speaker has formed a full circle of criticism. By focusing on a wide range of society’s members, the speaker has also shaped the message that governmental and societal cruelty are inescapable once they are out of control, and they create a world that scoffs at the most innocent.