The first thing I noticed in this poem was it's almost contrary nature in presentation versus content. The use of rhyme, meter, and iambic pentameter give this poem an energetic, almost cheery rhythm when reading it. When you apply this rhythm to the content of the poem however, you get a much more contrary feel. Perhaps it was to create a kind of darker image, of the use of playful structure to display such grim sights as "... the hapless Soldier's sigh/ Ruins in blood down palace walls" (Blake). Yes, Blake's portrait of London is far from the pleasant images that come to mind. To the speaker it is a city of woe, filled with cries of desperation from men to infants, from soldiers to harlots. Personally, I think this is not a commentary of London itself, but rather the roles one can lock oneself into, thinking that this is your solitary fate. In the second stanza we see that, "In every cry of every man,/ In every Infant's cry of fear,/ In every voice, in every ban,/ The mind-forged manacles I hear" (Blake). This is a city filled with people's cries, lamenting their fates and woes, trapped in the prisons of the roles they take. But with the last line in that stanza, we see these are not prisons they are forces to take, but rather their manacles (or handcuffs for those who do not know the word) are just mental. They are an illusory prison created by both ourselves and society.
I believe Blake was trying to say in one way or another, that in a vast and diverse environment such as London, one is not necessarily trapped to lament their sad role, but rather can break free of those shackles. That is just one thing I took from it thought. Quite a good poem though, if you did not read it, I'd recommend it.
Blake, William. “London.” The Norton Introduction to Literature.10th ed. Peter Simon. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2011. 483.
Blake was an interesting character. This poem, I believe, occurs in his "Songs of Experience." Those poems tend to be a little negative. He was probably satirizing the society of London at his time just like other writers did such as Swift and Pope. This poem could be a strong example of tone change in that it starts out happy but then turns sad.
ReplyDeleteBlake definitely didn't write about the happier aspects of London, but instead described the depressing aspects of the city. The poem goes against the images that popped into my mind when I first read the title since I thought of something positive. Blake's choice of words strengthens the tone of the poem and intertwines feeling into the theme to make the reader see the other side to the vibrant city.
ReplyDeleteI did an entire paper on William Blake a couple years ago in a Lit class I had in community college, and I did encounter this poem. Your take about Blake's issues with London being mental is a new way of looking at it for me, but it does make sense. There's good and bad in every city, and you often just have to take the good with the bad and have a good attitude to escape the kind of mental prison.
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