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London

            
             In William Blake's poem "London", the speaker conveys London as corrupt and corrupting . The speaker presents his image of London through his many "wander[ings]" through its streets. He notes the despair of "every" Londoner and their oppression by the "church" and the state. In everyone the speaker passes he sees signs of misery and moral weakness. In fact, the speaker is one of the oppressed and exploited Londoners and he conveys his moral indignation through diction and metaphor. .
             That power of diction is achieved in good part through repetition. Notice how 'charter'd' appears twice, 'mark' three times and 'every' a total of seven times. Coupled with the repeated use of 'and' gives an atmosphere of distinct oppression to the poem. 'London' singles out the Church for their part in this oppression. " Every face I meet" and " marks of weakness, marks of woe" shows that different societal groups are singled out to show how they were controlled. Also the use of the word "every" through out the poem shows that corruption has affected everyone from infant to elder. By using the word "how" at the beginning of the third stanza the speaker acquires an accusing tone upon the "Church" and state because they are contradicting themselves. Also by the repetitive nature of the poem the speaker achieves a respected viewpoint on London's situation.
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             The poem is rich in symbolic meaning. The 'mind-forged manacles' represent the disturbing sounds of clanking metal chains which were common during this time period. Also the image of manacles and cuffs are hammered into peoples minds. The young boys in the lower class system were given the task of sweeping chimneys therefore classified as chimney sweepers. By doing this their skin became stained from the soot, which connects them to the African people who were also suffering. The "Church" is "black"ning" because their job is to be charitable to everyone, but their hypocrisy is being exposed.


Essays Related to London

1. Great American Writer - Jack London

... . The inspiration of his writing did come from his experiences in life; however a monumental factor in becoming an author was to refrain from preforming manual labor (Frank 258). Through Jack London's tribulations as a factory worker, a pirate, participating in the dangerous Klondike Gold Rush, and even going to jail, he wanted nothing to do with the middle, working class citizen anymore ( ... to be a materialist, socialist, Darwinian, and Nietzschean all at once. Being this diverse led him to a constant inner struggle about his own beliefs (Wagenknecht 225). Being from the lower class, ...

  • Word Count: 1173
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography

2. Contrasting poems of LONDON

... its inhabitants and in contrast to this, the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge deals more with the overall view of the city. There is a negative view of London from the outset of this poem: 'As I wander thro' each charter'd street' The images of 'wander' are not of a pleasant stroll but rather ... to ease their pain or suffering. Here the disappointed acceptance of those who rule is clear, nothing is being done to help the unfortunate inhabitants of London. Who knows if Wordsworth had read Blake's poem? It is almost a positive yes as there are only around ten years between the two...

  • Word Count: 1314
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3. Jack London

... drowsy sky. I have everything to make me glad I am alive. I am filled with dreams and mysteries. I am all sun and air and sparkle. I am vitalized, organic." (Jack London) 10 Jack London fought his way up out of the factories and poverty to become the highest paid most popular novelist and short story writer of his day. He wrote passionately and ... the perfect living symbol of rugged individualism, a man whose fabulous success was due not to special favor of any kind, but a combination of unusual mental ability and immense vitality. Jack London Table of Contents Page I. Introduction 1 I...

  • Word Count: 2963
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
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4. Jack London

... brutality of seafaring that provided the background for one on his famous works, "The Sea Wolf" (Dyer n.p.g). Then traveling back to San Francisco, London found some steady work, first in a salmon cannery, then in a power station shoveling coal for ten hours a day. He found employment as ... of White Fang as brutal, relentless, and destructive of everything soft and gentle. This tests his imaginatively ideas about life (Bryan 1814). In Jack London's literary career he was known as a novelist, short story writer, and political essayist. He worked at a succession of odd jobs, including at...

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5. Jack London Sea Wolf

... Henry Chaney, an itinerant astrologer, and raised in Oakland by his mother Flora Wellman, a music teacher and spiritualist, and stepfather John London, whose surname he took. London's youth was marked by poverty. At the age of ten he became an avid reader, and borrowed books from the Oakland Public ... he married Elisabeth (Bess) Maddern, but left her and their two daughters three years afterwards, eventually to marry Charmian Kittredge. In 1901 London ran unsuccessfully on the Socialist party ticket for mayor of Oakland. He started to produce steadily novels, non-fiction and short stor...

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6. Literature by Jack London

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7. Jack London

... after taking morphine tablets. It is believed by some that his death was suicide. Others write that he died from kidney failure. Jack London published four hundred nonfiction pieces, two hundred short stories, and fifty books. His work was translated into more than fifty languages. His ... the power of big business, corruption in government, violent strikes, and socialism seemed to threaten American democracy. These were the times during which London wrote. London was inspired by one thought of the Progressive Era, evolution. The survival of the primitive instincts in the civilized world...

  • Word Count: 1629
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8. London - A Place I Would Like to Live

... comes after visiting a place that has one attracted because of many reasons. In my case, I dream of living in London. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom and it's the world most visited city as measured by international arrivals. In 2011, I traveled ... taught English language with the Berlitz's method and with a British pronunciation. These were factors that pushed me to dream of visiting London someday. My teacher was an old woman who lived in London when younger and whose teacher was an English man. She used to accompany every lesson with a little piece of her memo...

  • Word Count: 661
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9. London: Imagery in Blake

... gin is consuming the lives of many people. Young women turn to prostitution as the only way to support themselves. Even the design of the streets and canals makes London a constricting environment. With Blake's use of repetition, he describes a city that is cold and unnatural. He repeats the words "chartered", "every" and "cry ... work of the sweepers, as described by Blake, literally "appalls" the churches and makes them white. The fact that the children of London are in misery and poverty makes the upper class, the church and the monarchy even richer. The children who cry out for salvat...

  • Word Count: 1148
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10. London and Dreiser

... in his short story, "The Second Choice". To begin with, it is important to know that every naturalistic writer puts a different emphasis in their text. In London's text "To Build a Fire ", I have observed that he puts a specific focus on "man against the elements of nature". What I mean by this is ... man is dead or not nor intelligence to know what to do, he simply runs to the camp through instinct. In brief, I would say that London's naturalism is mainly focused on "man against nature" and the dog's instincts. Theodore Dreiser is another excellent American naturalistic author. In the pr...

  • Word Count: 1330
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