London (poem)

"London" is a poem by William Blake, published in "Songs of Experience" in 1794. It is one of the few poems in "Songs of Experience" which does not have a corresponding poem in "Songs of Innocence".

Text of the Poem

I wander thro' each charter'd street,Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,And mark in every face I meetMarks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,In every Infant's cry of fear,In every voice, in every ban,The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper's cryEvery black'ning Church appalls;And the hapless Soldier's sighRuns in blood down Palace walls.

But most thro' midnight streets I hearHow the youthful Harlot's curseBlasts the new-born Infant's tear,And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.

Analysis

As with most of Blake's poetry, there are several critical interpretations of "London". The most common interpretation, favored by critics such as Camille Paglia [cite book |last= Paglia |first= Camille|authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title= Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems|origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |volume= |date= |year= |month= |publisher= Vintage|location= |language= |isbn= 0375725393|oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= |ref= ] and E.P. Thompson, holds that "London" is primarily a social protest. A less frequently held view is that of Harold Bloom; that "London" primarily is Blake's response to the tradition of Biblical prophecy.

The use of the word 'Chartered' is ambiguous. It may express the political and economic control that Blake considered London to be enduring at the time of his writing. Blake's friend Thomas Paine had criticised the granting of Royal Charters to control trade as a form of class oppression. [Stephen Bygrave (ed), "Romantic Writings", Routledge, 1996, p.20; [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2025117,00.html The Invisible Worm, Tom Paulin, "The Guardian', March 3, 2007] ] However, 'chartered' could also mean 'freighted', and may refer to the busy or overburdened streets and river, or to the licenced trade carried on within them. [E.P. Thompson, "Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law", Cambridge University Press, 1993, p.176]

In Thompson's view, Blake was an unorthodox Christian of the dissenting tradition, who felt that the state was abandoning those in need. He was heavily influenced by mystical groups, [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/asguru/english/03contexts/14williamblake/index.shtml BBC: Blake's 'London'] ] . The poem reflects Blake's extreme disillusionment with the suffering he saw in London [ Edexcel GCE English Language and Language and Literature Poetry Anthology Teachers' Guidance, pg 4.] .

The reference to a harlot blighting the 'marriage hearse' with 'plague' is usually understood to refer to the spread of venereal disease in the city, passed via a prostitute by a man to his bride, so that marriage can become a sentence of death. [Bygrave, p. 20]

The poem was published during the upheavals of the French Revolution, and the city of London was suffering political and social unrest, due to the marked social and working inequalities of the time. An understandably nervous government had responded by introducing restrictions on the freedom of speech and the mobilisation of foreign mercenariesFact|date=January 2008.

The City of London was a town that was shackled to landlords and owners that controlled and demeaned the majority of the lower and middle classesFact|date=January 2008. Within the poem that bears the city's name, Blake describes 18th century London as a conurbation filled with people who understood, with depressing wisdom, both the hopelessness and misery of their situationFact|date=January 2008.

Influence and musical settings

The poem has been set to music many times. Classical composers who have set it include Benjamin Britten in his "Songs and Proverbs of William Blake" and Ralph Vaughan Williams in "Ten Blake Songs". The poet Allen Ginsberg sang the poem as part of his own recordings of Blake's verse.

The song also appears as a track on a number of albums by popular and folk musicians. It is sung by Greg Brown on his album "Songs of Innocence and Experience" and by Jah Wobble on "The Inspiration of William Blake". Tangerine Dream's 1987 album, "Tyger" is built around a number of William Blake's poems, including this one. Finn Coren's version on his album "" ends with the sounds of Big Ben. Sparklehorse included a version of the poem set to music on the b-side of the English release of their 1996 single "Someday I Will Treat You Good".

Joan Baez recorded a spoken version of the poem.

The opening lyrics of The Verve's 1995 hit single, "History", are an uncredited paraphrase of the first two verses of this poem.

References

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details/Lethargica_-_William_Blakes_London William Blake's London] by Lethargica. The Internet Archive. Retrieved 07/05/2008.