LONDON, by William Blake

FORMAL ORGANIZATION

The layout of the poem is classical since it follows the rigid rules of English conventional
stanza patterns. The poem, in fact, is divided into four stanzas, all made of four lines, then
quatrains. All lines are aligned and they all start with capital letter. The rhyme scheme is
rigidly regular and follows the alternate rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef ghgh). The line
length of the first two stanzas is marked by general regularity with the eight-syllable line,
though the last two lines of each stanza show a slight variation from this patter (seven
syllables). This variation is also visible at metrical level. In this regard, it is noticeable the
presence of a regular iambic stress pattern in the first three lines of each stanza, whereas
the last two lines show significant variations: line four shows a trochaic stress pattern
throughout the line, while line eight is marked by irregular rhythm, given by the presence of
three content words in rapid sequence, which determine the need for a change in rhythm.
The metrical organization of the first two lines is as follows.

X / X / X / X /
I - wand – er – thro’ – each – chart – er’d – street (8)

X / X / X / X /
Near - where - the – chart – er’d – Thames – does - flow (8)

X / X / X / X /
And – marks – in – e - very – face – I - meet (8)

/ X / X / X /
Marks – of – weak – ness – marks – of – woe (7)

X / X / X / X /
In – e – very – cry – of – e –very – Man (8)

X / X / X / X /
In – e – very – In – fant’s – cry – of – fear (8)

X / X / X / X /
In - e –very – voice - in – e – very – ban (8)

X / / / X X /
The - mind – forg’d – man - acles – I – hear (7)

In considering the formal organization of the poem, it stands in quite visible prominence
Blake’s use of punctuation. In fact, the use of the capital letters seem to show some
correspondence between words in some ways connected, a correspondence to explain at
language level analyses.
LANGUAGE
In the first stanza we notice some repeated words, such as charter’d (1,2) and marks (3,4).
This words stand in prominence and are charged with relevant meaning. The verb charter
means ‘to hire’ something or somebody for profitable use. In the poem this verb is
associated to the words streets and Thames; the collocation is in itself unusual, in that in
ordinary language these words do not normally collocate. The unusual collocation is a
further element which puts on the foreground this chunk of language, the other being their
repetition. A possible interpretation of these words is that the poet perceives the streets he
is wandering through as exploited, and also the river Thames is perceived in the same
way. Another important word to notice in the first line is the verb ‘wander’, which means to
walk about without a precise goal; it implies a free state of the poet’s mind, free from
external oppressive influences, a condition which helps his perception to see beyond the
surface of external reality. The word ‘marks’ is repeated three times to stress the fact that
the poet perceives strong visible evidence of the people’s fragility and suffering
(weakness, woe) wherever he looks at, and that this aspect is very impressive on his mind.
The second stanza is characterised by what in poetic text analyses is called anticipation,
or syntactical inversion. In fact, this stanza is presented with a reverted syntax, in that the
subject-verb comes in the closing line, the object before the subject and the adverbials are
in the front position. Another clear element to notice in this stanza is the repetition of the
word ‘every’, repeated four times. The technique of inversion is generally used by poets to
put on the foreground the last part of the sentence; by postponing the main clause, in fact,
the poet creates a sort of expectation in the reader. The repetition of the word ‘every’
increases the expectation since the reader is eager to know what in fact is perceived
everywhere by the poet. When the final stanza comes, and the perception of the poet is
revealed, an additional element is used to put on the foreground the last line, that is the
use of a metaphor (mind-forged manacles). Therefore, the last line is put on the
foreground by several devices
- It shows a variation in the metrical organization
- it is presented by means of the technique of inversion;
- it is presented by means of figurative language, that is language which is not
directly clear and needs deeper analyses for understanding.
The word ‘manacles’ stands for what is used to hold the hands of jailed people; in this text,
the word ‘manacles’ assumes a metaphorical meaning. A possible interpretation leads to
suggest that the word ‘manacles’ may stand for the Institutions: in the same way as
manacles deprive people of their freedom the poets seem to suggest that social Institution
forge, that is influence, the people’s mind and thus deprive them of their freedom.
The last two stanzas are used by the poet to provide concrete evidence of the oppressive
impact which social institutions have on people. The oppressive institutions identified by
Blake are the Church, the State and Marriage; the victims which they produce are the
chimney sweeper, the soldier and the harlot together with her illegitimate baby. The first
correspondence clearly shows the way the poets characterises the two components: the
chimney sweeper is presented in a state of moaning and sadness (’cry) while the church is
given a very negative connotation through the adjective ‘blackening’ and the verb ‘appal’;
both words, in fact, recall images of fear, terror; in particular, the words blackening is used
in a metaphorical way, probably the implication is that the church has a death-like effect on
people, especially those who are directly submitted to its authority, as the chimney
sweepers are (reference to the workhouses). The verb ‘appals’ reinforce this idea of scary,
dreadful effect which church runners have on people.
The correspondence between Palace and Soldier is a very straightforward one, since the
unlucky soldier is sent by the State to fight and may be also lose his life (‘runs in blood’) for
the sake of the Nation’s interest. He is therefore exploited by the State in the same way as
the chimney sweeper is exploited by the church.
The last correspondence is more complex to explain. What is very clear, in the first place,
is the fact that the poet perceives this situation in a much stronger way than the previous
two. The presence of the linking ‘But’ is a visible evidence of a contrasting situation being
introduced by the poet. The fact that the poet is mostly impressed by this perception is
visible in the way he reports it linguistically: he uses very tough colloquial language (blast –
blight – hearse - plagues) to stress the harshness of this situation and the anger and
suffering it provokes in the victims.. The toughness of this perceived situation is also
conveyed by the alliteration of the group consonant /bl/ (blast – blight), reinforced by the
presence of the plosive /b/ in nearby position (but – born); The insisted presence of the
plosive sound, a strong sound from a phonetic point of view, is possibly used by Blake to
stress the violence of the harlot’s anger for her condition of exploited woman, an anger
which she bursts out against both his exploiter than her infant, the product of a
promiscuous relation.

INSIGHT
The poem London can be considered a symbol of the state of Experience devised by
Blake in opposition to the state of innocence. In fact, the poem show clear features
characteristic of this state, that is the feature of exploitation, human fragility and suffering,
lack of freedom provoked by the oppressive role the institutions have on the individual.
The analyses of the poem shows how this features seem to have a increasing relevance in
the way the affect the life of individuals. In this respect, it seems quite visible the centrality
given by Blake to the oppressive role the institutions have on social individuals, who
eventually become their victims. This feature is expressed in the most foregrounded line of
the poem, line 8, which on the one hand is the culminating point of the first two stanzas of
the poem; on the other, it is exemplified by the concrete evidence provided in the last two
stanzas, when the poet clearly mentions the oppressive institutions and their desperate
victims.