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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > English > Blake - London
- London: Urban environment - theme of RURAL VS URBAN.
- "marks of weakness, marks of woe" - place of fear and grief - contrasted to rural which is a place of beauty and happiness. "Mark" has two meanings - first is that it conveys the grief of the Londoners, secondly that it refers to the mark of the beast the Antichrist - this fits in with the early 18th Century belief that the rich were being used by the Antichrist to inflict a harsh life on the poor.
- Four quatrains, ABAB, Iambic tetrameter - oppressive form - everything is controlled in the city.
- Metaphor - creates sense of repression - "the mind-forged manacles I hear" - minds of people in London have been forged by society.
- Repetition of "cry" three times, compare to Infant Joy which uses the word "joy" often.
- "charter'd" repeated twice - everything owned by the powerful rich.
- Metaphor used to attack Church - "Every Blackening Church appalls" - Church indirectly responsible- black with soot of chimney sweepers. appalling with fear (go pale with fear) - IRONIC.
- Metaphor, "the hapless Soldier's sign runs in blood down palace walls" - enjambment" - creates a sense of chaos. Attacks monarchy - shortly before the writing of this poem was the French Revolution.
- SOUND IMAGERY "how the youthful harlot's curse/Blasts the new born infants tear". Curse = cursing because having a baby means that she can no longer works, and a venereal disease probably caught off married men.
- Overall - Innocence destroyed by society.
Comments
These notes are aimed at A Level English Literature students at A2 level.
Originally written by Becksy on TSR Forums.
