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London
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Themes
The Oppressiveness of Urban London
From the poem’s beginning (along with the title), the speaker establishes an urban setting. While “London” announces the general setting, the speaker then wanders “thro’ each charter’d street” (Line 1). The term “wander” (Line 1) implies that the speaker may be confused, lost, or listless. This sense of confusion mimics the city’s chaotic state. The speaker also reflects about the oppression of urban life, stating that they see the city’s “mark in every face I meet” (Line 3), implying that the state of oppression is so severe that it takes a physical toll on people. Its inhabitants bear “[m]arks of weakness, marks of woe” (Line 4) and seem broken both physically and spiritually. This description establishes a grimly melancholic tone. As the poem continues, the city’s oppression continues. The speaker describes the city’s inhabitants as wearing “mind-forg’d manacles” (Line 8), reinforcing the idea that urban life restricts and oppresses the city’s occupants; it even draws the implicit analogy between London and a prison. As the poem concludes, the speaker highlights the “youthful Harlots” (Line 14) who “curse” (Line 14), and no escape from the city’s oppression seems likely.
Governmental and Religious Corruption
“London” critiques governmental and religious corruption. The poem’s speaker, noticing how the corruption and oppression effect London’s citizens, acknowledges the “mark in every face I meet” (Line 3), and they see “[m]arks of weakness, marks of woe” (Line 4). The speaker primarily focuses on the exploitation of children as workers, specifically in the chimney-sweeping industry. Chimney sweeping jobs were essential since the task prevented fires from erupting in homes. The chimney sweepers were usually small boys, aged five to ten years old, though some were as young as four. The trade required dexterity and carried many health risks. In Blake’s poem, the speaker holds the Church accountable for supporting the exploitation of the children for the chimney-sweeping industry: “How the Chimney-sweepers cry / Every blackning Church appalls” (Lines 9-10). The speaker implies that the Church ignores the exploitation and death caused by the industry, which is hypocritical in comparison to the Church’s teachings.
The speaker also addresses the governmental corruption that results in needless death. They imagine “the hapless Soldiers” (Line 11) sighing as their blood runs “down Palace walls” (Line 12). The speaker likens the government’s corruption to the Church’s. As the poem concludes, the speaker shows the consequences of the Church’s and the government’s corruption—young women working in the streets as forced sex workers, in such steep poverty that no other option is available to them. The speaker portrays the corruption as ubiquitous. The speaker hears “the youthful Harlots curse” (Line 14) and observes how these curses “[blast] the new-born Infants tear” (Line 15). These lines reiterate the idea that corruption will negatively affect future generations. Moreover, the “curse” (Line 14) plainly announces the abject misery of these young women, whose terming as the word “Harlots” (Line 14) draws from apocalyptic biblical diction; the poem has overtly apocalyptic overtones.
The Loss of Childhood Innocence
Like other Romantic poets, Blake often incorporated a longing for childhood innocence into his poems (the Romantic fascination with this concept appears most vividly and most famously in Wordsworth’s 1804 poem “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”). In “London,” however, the theme takes on a different narrative. At the poem’s beginning, the speaker focuses on infants. The speaker says they can hear the consequences of oppression “in every Infants cry of fear” (Line 6). Even though the infants are young, the Church’s and the government’s restrictions, represented by the “mind-forg’d manacles” (Line 8), impact the infants.
In the third stanza, the speaker shifts their focus to older children—the chimney sweepers. The speaker hears “[h]ow the Chimney sweepers cry” (Line 9). The word “cry” (Line 9) implies pain and fear. In the context of the chimney sweeping industry, the word “cry” evokes the inhumanity of the trade. Young children often worked as chimney sweepers due to their small size and dexterity, and many of these children died at a young age because of the severe health risks associated with chimney sweeping. The speaker asserts that the “Chimney sweepers cry” (Line 9) is an indictment against the Church, who remains willfully ignorant of this suffering.
In the final stanza, the speaker again focuses on the infants. This refocusing on infancy creates a cycle in the poem, one of generation and perpetuation. However, because of the government and Church’s oppression and corruption, the future generations have no hope and are still trapped by the restrictions placed on society. The speaker describes the “Harlots” (Line 14) as “youthful” (Line 14) and that they “curse” (Line 14). This curse “[b]lasts the new-born Infants tear” (Line 15). The meaning of the latter line is somewhat ambiguous, though any interpretation is grim; the young women may be cursing their own children (the curse “[b]last[ing]” [Line 14] the Infants’ cries), or the infant’s innocence may be marred by the curses and the coerced, tormented livelihood of their mothers.
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