london blake essay

London Summary & Analysis by William Blake

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

"London" is among the best known writings by visionary English poet William Blake. The poem describes a walk through London, which is presented as a pained, oppressive, and impoverished city in which all the speaker can find is misery. It places particular emphasis on the sounds of London, with cries coming from men, women, and children throughout the poem. The poem is in part a response to the Industrial Revolution, but more than anything is a fierce critique of humankind's failure to build a society based on love, joy, freedom, and communion with God.

• Read the full text of “London”

The Full Text of “London”

1 I wander thro' each charter'd street,

2 Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

3 And mark in every face I meet

4 Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

5 In every cry of every Man,

6 In every Infants cry of fear,

7 In every voice: in every ban,

8 The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

9 How the Chimney-sweepers cry

10 Every blackning Church appalls,

11 And the hapless Soldiers sigh

12 Runs in blood down Palace walls

13 But most thro' midnight streets I hear

14 How the youthful Harlots curse

15 Blasts the new-born Infants tear

16 And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

“London” Summary

“london” themes.

The Oppression of Urban Life

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

The Corruption of Childhood

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “london”.

I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appalls,

Lines 11-12

And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls

Lines 13-16

But most thro' midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

“London” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Antanaclasis

“london” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Charter'd
• Mind-forg'd manacles
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “London”

Rhyme scheme, “london” speaker, “london” setting, literary and historical context of “london”, more “london” resources, external resources.

Illustration and Other Poems — A resource from the Tate organization, which holds a large collection of Blake originals. Here the poem can be seen in its original illustrated form.

Blake's Radicalism — An excerpt from a documentary in which writer Iain Sinclair discusses Blake's radicalism.

Blake's Visions — An excerpt from a documentary in which writer Iain Sinclair discusses Blake's religious visions.

A Reading by Idis Elba — Actor Idris Elba reads "London."

The Chimney Sweepers Article — An article from the British Library that looks at Blake's "Chimney Sweepers" poems, which relate to lines 9 and 10 of "London." The article offers insight into what the life of a "sweep" was like.

Full Text of Songs of Innocence and Experience — Various formats for the full collection in which "L" appears.

LitCharts on Other Poems by William Blake

Ah! Sun-flower

A Poison Tree

Earth's Answer

Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)

Holy Thursday (Songs of Innocence)

Infant Sorrow

Introduction (Songs of Innocence)

Nurse's Song (Songs of Experience)

Nurse's Song (Songs of Innocence)

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)

The Clod and the Pebble

The Divine Image

The Ecchoing Green

The Garden of Love

The Human Abstract

The Little Black Boy

The Little Vagabond

The School Boy

The Sick Rose

To the Evening Star

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

A Summary and Analysis of William Blake’s ‘London’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

William Blake (1757-1827) wrote many great poems which remain widely read and studied. But ‘London’ is, along with ‘The Tyger’, possibly the most famous of all his poems. ‘London’ was first published in 1794 in his volume Songs of Experience , which was written to offer the flipside to the positive, transcendent message present in Blake’s earlier volume Songs of Innocence .

Although the poem’s meaning is pretty clear and straightforward, it is our intention in this analysis to uncover some of the more curious aspects of its language.

(The spelling given in the version of the poem below is that found in Blake’s original.)

London: a summary

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

In summary, Blake describes the things he sees when he wanders through the streets of London: signs of misery and weakness can be discerned on everyone’s face, it seems. Every man’s voice – even the cry of every infant, a child who hasn’t even learnt to talk yet – conveys this sense of oppression.

In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

It’s as if everyone is being kept in slavery, but the manacles they wear are not literal ones, but mental – ‘mind-forg’d’ – ones. Somehow, they are even more powerful, since they mean the oppressed is unlikely ever to rise up and challenge that which tyrannises over them.

How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls

The third stanza sees two institutions associated with wealth and grandeur – the Church and the Palace – invaded by the corrupt realities of Blake’s London: a world in which industrialisation leads to small children being exploited and maltreated through their employment as chimney-sweeps, and in which ‘hapless’ (i.e. unlucky) soldiers sent off to fight spill their blood for uncaring kings.

‘Appals’ in this stanza is a nice word: the Church is literally turned the colour of a pall (black) by the sooty breath of the chimney-sweep, but palls are associated with funerals, summoning the premature deaths of so many children who died from injury or ill-health while performing the job of a chimney-sweep. The word also, of course, carries its more familiar, abstract meaning: ‘appals’ as in shocks.

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

But the fourth and final stanza suggests that the most pervasive and frequently heard sound on London streets is the sound of a young mother – who is also a prostitute – cursing her newborn infant’s crying and ‘blight[ing] with plagues the Marriage hearse’. This last image cannot easily be paraphrased, so the whole stanza requires a bit of unpicking.

That final image – the oxymoron of the ‘Marriage hearse’ (hearses are for funerals, not weddings) – appears to mean that the young unmarried mother’s unwanted child, and the misery of both mother and infant alike, is the final nail in the coffin of the idea of marriage as a sacred union which is associated not only with bliss but with blessing (because it is, or was solely in Blake’s time, a holy ceremony; but also because people talk of a marriage being ‘blessed’ with a child).

A ‘curse’, of course, can be merely a loud cry (or, in modern American slang, a swear word), but the word carries a ring of profanity at all times. That final line is a masterstroke: first the near-alliteration of the bl and pl plosive sounds in ‘blights’ and ‘plagues’, but then the oxymoron of ‘Marriage hearse’, with ‘hearse’ itself being a horrific constricting of ‘ H arlot’s c urse ’, the line it rhymes with.

London: an analysis

Note Blake’s use of the word ‘charter’d’, twice in this first stanza: both the streets of London and even the natural geographical feature, the river Thames, have been mapped out and demarcated by man. With this word (Blake originally wrote ‘dirty’, but later changed it to ‘charter’d’), Blake suggests that many human miseries are caused by the systems and laws other men have imposed upon the poorest and most wretched in society.

This analysis of Blake’s poem is borne out by his later use of the word ‘ban’ (‘In every voice: in every ban’): a ban is a public proclamation, often declaring an edict or law (most commonly, of course, to declare that something is outlawed – or, if you will, ‘banned’). More restrictions, more manacles – if not physical ones, then certainly mental or ‘mind-forg’d’ ones.

The poem is written in fairly regular iambic tetrameter: ‘I wan der thro’ each chart er’d street ’. Blake uses this metre in a number of his poems, so it may be over-analysing the poem to suggest that this choice of metre is of specific significance for ‘London’.

Having said that, the iambic rhythm and the locking of the abab rhyme scheme does reinforce the poem’s sense of relentlessness, as Blake confronts the horrific prisons, real and psychological, that Londoners live their lives trapped within.

That said, Blake does not stick to the iambic metre throughout. A number of lines, such as the last line of the first stanza, begin with strong trochaic feet, and the third stanza is entirely trochaic:

How the Chimney-sweepers cry Ev ery blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls

Some critics have analysed the poem in its historical context. It’s been suggested that the ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ refer to London’s, and England’s, unwillingness to follow the lead of France and revolt against their tyrannical oppressors: the French Revolution was five years old when Blake published ‘London’, and Blake’s support of the French Revolution lends credence to this interpretation of the poem. Is he bemoaning Londoners’ reluctance to free themselves, and their apparent willingness to remain slaves?

What is perhaps also worth noting about ‘London’ – by way of concluding this brief analysis – is the fact that the final three stanzas all concern attempts to vocalise something. ‘London’ is a decidedly oral poem, but it is concerned with voicelessness rather than the voice. Blake may mention ‘every voice’, but we never hear anyone’s voice utter anything specific.

The mouth is used to ‘cry’ (three times), ‘sigh’, and ‘curse’, but never to utter any meaningful objection or opposition to the ‘manacles’ that keep Londoners in their psychological chains. (Though for our money the third stanza’s combination of the aural and the visual in the images of the chimney-sweep’s cry turning the walls of the church black, as if with his sooty breath, and the soldier’s dying breath or ‘sigh’ running in blood down the Palace walls, is the finest thing Blake ever wrote.)

Even the harlot’s baby is an ‘infant’ – literally, someone unable to speak, from the Latin infans . (Compare his ‘Infant Sorrow’ here.) But Blake, through writing a poem like ‘London’, could give a voice to the voiceless – or rather, could lend his voice to their voicelessness, to suggest that such wretched misery goes beyond words, at least for those suffering London’s hardships.

As D. G. Gillham observes in his book William Blake , the counterpart to ‘London’, a Song of Experience , is ‘The Ecchoing Green’, from  Songs of Innocence . This begins:

The sun does arise, And make happy the skies. The merry bells ring To welcome the Spring. The sky-lark and thrush, The birds of the bush, Sing louder around, To the bells’ cheerful sound. While our sports shall be seen On the Ecchoing Green.

As Gillham notes in  William Blake , this poem is the counterpart to ‘London’ because the people who inhabit the pastoral green (as opposed to the industrial city of London) are marked by satisfaction and pleasure in the present moment, rather than those marks of weakness and marks of woe.

Here there is no ‘blackning Church’; instead, the ‘merry bells’ of the village church ring to welcome in the Spring with its connotations of rebirth, hope, and new life.

The children are in the laps of their mothers, and the family unit is secure; there are no youthful Harlots in the Ecchoing Green. How different the two poems are; and yet, as so often with Blake’s  corresponding poems in the  Songs of Innocence  and  Songs of Experience , the two visions of human life are not mere contrasts, but equal realities.

Where the village of the Ecchoing Green is marked by laughter and merriment, the corrupt industrial city of London is marked by cries and sighs – and curses.

Listen to Idris Elba reading Blake’s ‘London’ here .

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6 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of William Blake’s ‘London’”

Interesting-

A sort of urban/social horror tale using details to great effect in making the reader feel the nitty-gritty of the street, yet using the street scene symbolically for all of London at that time.

seeing ‘marks of weakness, marks of woe’ – I wonder how much has changed as we walk past homeless people sleeping on the streets. Blake was always concerned with the inner spirituality so although he criticised institutions such as the church he used the various systems of society as symbols for how they ‘manacle the mind.’ The clue to his system is in his concept of Fourfold Vision – “The fool sees not the same tree as a wiseman” (‘person’ to be politically correct!) Some of his so called prophetic books are difficult to understand without a good commentary. One of his last was his Vision of the Book of Job. The book edition by Joseph Wicksteed is highly recommended. The Book of Urizen is perhaps easier to get into but Job is one of the most spiritually revealing books/set of images I’ve ever come across. Perhaps Tolstoy is the only other writer I can think of who has such depth.

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Uncovering the Hidden Meanings: A Literary Analysis of William Blake’s London

• William Blake

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. Through vivid imagery and a haunting tone, Blake exposes the suffering and oppression of the urban poor while also calling attention to the role of institutional power in perpetuating their misery. This article offers a literary analysis of “London,” exploring the hidden meanings and symbolic language that make it a timeless work of social commentary.

The Historical and Social Context of William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” was written during a time of great social and political upheaval in England. The late 18th and early 19th centuries were marked by the Industrial Revolution, which brought about significant changes in the way people lived and worked. The growth of factories and urbanization led to overcrowding, poverty, and disease in cities like London. Blake’s poem reflects the bleak reality of life in the city during this time, as he describes the “marks of weakness, marks of woe” on the faces of the people he sees. The poem also touches on themes of oppression and injustice, as Blake criticizes the Church and the government for their role in perpetuating the suffering of the poor. Overall, “London” is a powerful commentary on the social and political context of Blake’s time, and it continues to resonate with readers today as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for social justice.

The Use of Symbolism in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. Through the use of vivid imagery and symbolism, Blake exposes the harsh realities of poverty, oppression, and despair that were rampant in the city at the time. One of the most striking examples of symbolism in the poem is the repeated use of the word “chartered,” which refers to the charters that were granted to various institutions and organizations in London. Blake uses this word to suggest that the city has become a place where everything is controlled and regulated by those in power, leaving little room for individual freedom or creativity. Another powerful symbol in the poem is the “blackening church,” which represents the corruption and moral decay of the Church of England, which Blake saw as complicit in the oppression of the poor. Overall, the use of symbolism in “London” serves to deepen the poem’s critique of the social and political conditions of the city, and to highlight the urgent need for change.

The Role of the Speaker in William Blake’s London

The speaker in William Blake’s poem “London” plays a crucial role in conveying the themes of oppression and social injustice. Through the speaker’s observations and descriptions of the city, Blake highlights the suffering of the lower classes and the corrupt nature of those in power. The speaker’s use of vivid imagery and powerful language paints a bleak picture of London, emphasizing the bleakness and despair felt by its inhabitants. Additionally, the speaker’s repeated use of the word “chartered” serves to criticize the government’s control over every aspect of society, from the streets to the river. Overall, the speaker’s role in “London” is to expose the harsh realities of life in the city and to call attention to the need for change.

The Use of Imagery in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. One of the most striking features of the poem is its use of vivid and evocative imagery to convey the bleakness and despair of life in the city. Throughout the poem, Blake employs a range of powerful images, from the “chartered Thames” to the “blackening church,” to paint a picture of a city that is both oppressive and suffocating. These images serve to underscore the poem’s central themes of poverty, oppression, and social injustice, and to highlight the urgent need for change. By using such powerful and evocative imagery, Blake is able to convey the emotional impact of the city’s social and political conditions, and to make a powerful statement about the need for reform.

The Theme of Oppression in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful commentary on the theme of oppression. The poem depicts the harsh realities of life in London during the late 18th century, where poverty, disease, and social inequality were rampant. Blake’s use of vivid imagery and powerful language highlights the suffering of the oppressed and the corrupt nature of those in power. The poem is a scathing critique of the social and political systems of the time, and it remains relevant today as a reminder of the ongoing struggle against oppression and injustice.

The Theme of Corruption in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. One of the most prominent themes in the poem is corruption, which Blake portrays as a pervasive and destructive force that infects every aspect of urban life. Through vivid imagery and evocative language, Blake exposes the ways in which corruption manifests itself in the city, from the “marks of weakness, marks of woe” on the faces of the poor to the “midnight streets” where “the youthful harlot” plies her trade. Blake’s depiction of corruption is not limited to the lower classes, however; he also highlights the hypocrisy and moral decay of the ruling elite, who are depicted as “black’ning Church[s]” and “palace[s] reared amid the street.” Overall, Blake’s poem is a searing indictment of the social and political structures that perpetuate corruption and inequality in the city, and a call to action for readers to recognize and resist these forces.

The Theme of Industrialization in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the effects of industrialization on society. The theme of industrialization is central to the poem, as Blake portrays the city as a place of poverty, oppression, and despair. Through vivid imagery and powerful language, Blake exposes the harsh realities of life in a rapidly industrializing world. He depicts the city as a place where people are trapped in a cycle of poverty and despair, where the streets are filled with the sounds of suffering and the air is thick with the smoke of factories. Blake’s poem is a powerful reminder of the human cost of progress, and a warning against the dangers of unchecked industrialization.

The Role of Religion in William Blake’s London

Religion played a significant role in William Blake’s London, as evidenced by the numerous references to Christianity and the Church throughout the poem. Blake was a deeply spiritual individual who believed that the Church had become corrupt and had lost sight of its true purpose. In London, he portrays the Church as a symbol of oppression and hypocrisy, with its “black’ning Church” and “hapless Soldier’s sigh/Runs in blood down Palace walls.” These lines suggest that the Church and the ruling class are complicit in the suffering of the poor and that their actions are stained with the blood of the innocent. Blake’s critique of the Church is not limited to its role in society but also extends to its theology. He rejects the idea of a vengeful God who punishes sinners and instead advocates for a more compassionate and merciful deity. Overall, religion in London serves as a vehicle for Blake to express his dissatisfaction with the status quo and to call for a more just and equitable society.

The Use of Repetition in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. One of the most striking features of the poem is its use of repetition, which serves to emphasize the bleakness and despair of the urban landscape. Throughout the poem, Blake repeats key phrases such as “every face,” “every voice,” and “every cry,” creating a sense of overwhelming oppression and hopelessness. This repetition also serves to underscore the poem’s central themes of poverty, injustice, and the dehumanizing effects of industrialization. By using repetition in this way, Blake forces the reader to confront the harsh realities of life in London and to consider the urgent need for social change.

The Relationship between the City and Its Inhabitants in William Blake’s London

In William Blake’s poem “London,” the relationship between the city and its inhabitants is a central theme. Blake portrays the city as a place of oppression and despair, where the people are trapped in a cycle of poverty and suffering. The poem is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of Blake’s time, and it highlights the ways in which the city and its inhabitants are intertwined. Through his use of vivid imagery and powerful language, Blake shows how the city shapes the lives of its inhabitants, and how the people are in turn shaped by the city. Ultimately, “London” is a powerful reminder of the importance of understanding the relationship between the city and its inhabitants, and of the need to work towards creating a more just and equitable society.

The Use of Irony in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. One of the most striking features of the poem is its use of irony, which serves to highlight the gap between the idealized vision of London presented by the ruling class and the harsh reality experienced by the common people. Through the use of irony, Blake exposes the hypocrisy and injustice of the society he lived in, and invites his readers to question the dominant narratives of power and authority. For example, the repeated use of the word “charter’d” to describe the streets and the river Thames suggests a sense of confinement and restriction, as if the city were a prison rather than a place of freedom and opportunity. Similarly, the image of the “black’ning church” and the “youthful harlot” juxtaposed with the “marriage hearse” creates a sense of moral decay and corruption, as if the institutions of religion and marriage were complicit in the exploitation and oppression of the poor. Overall, the use of irony in “London” is a powerful tool for exposing the hidden meanings and contradictions of the society Blake lived in, and for challenging his readers to think critically about the world around them.

The Theme of Alienation in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of his time. One of the most prominent themes in the poem is the sense of alienation that pervades the city. Blake portrays a society in which people are disconnected from each other and from their own humanity. The poem is a stark reminder of the dehumanizing effects of poverty, oppression, and social inequality. Through his vivid imagery and powerful language, Blake exposes the hidden realities of life in London and challenges his readers to confront the injustices of their own society.

The Role of Nature in William Blake’s London

In William Blake’s poem “London,” nature plays a significant role in highlighting the bleakness and despair of the city. The use of natural imagery, such as the “midnight streets” and the “chartered Thames,” creates a sense of confinement and oppression. The river Thames, which is typically associated with life and vitality, is instead portrayed as a symbol of the city’s corruption and decay. The “marks of weakness, marks of woe” on the faces of the people in the poem are juxtaposed with the “every face” of the “hapless soldier’s sigh” and the “new-born infant’s tear,” emphasizing the pervasive nature of suffering in the city. Overall, Blake’s use of nature in “London” serves to underscore the poem’s themes of social injustice and the dehumanizing effects of urbanization.

The Use of Personification in William Blake’s London

One of the most striking literary devices used in William Blake’s poem “London” is personification. Throughout the poem, Blake gives human qualities to various aspects of the city, such as the “chartered Thames” and the “mind-forged manacles.” By doing so, he creates a sense of oppression and despair that is not limited to the human characters in the poem, but extends to the very fabric of the city itself. This use of personification is particularly effective in conveying the idea that the problems facing London are not just the result of individual actions, but are deeply ingrained in the city’s structure and history.

The Theme of Despair in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful portrayal of the despair and hopelessness that pervaded the city during the late 18th century. Through vivid imagery and a haunting tone, Blake captures the bleakness of life for the poor and oppressed in a society that valued wealth and power above all else. The theme of despair is woven throughout the poem, from the “marks of weakness, marks of woe” etched on the faces of the people to the “midnight streets” where the only sound is the “youthful harlot” crying out for help. Blake’s London is a place of darkness and despair, where the only hope for change lies in the recognition of the suffering of others and the willingness to take action to alleviate it.

The Theme of Revolution in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful commentary on the social and political conditions of the city during the late 18th century. One of the most prominent themes in the poem is that of revolution. Blake’s depiction of the city as a place of poverty, oppression, and despair suggests that he saw the need for radical change in society.

Throughout the poem, Blake uses vivid imagery to convey the bleakness of life in London. He describes the streets as “charter’d” and “dirty,” and the people as “hapless” and “weak.” These descriptions paint a picture of a city that is in desperate need of reform.

Blake’s use of repetition also emphasizes the theme of revolution. The repeated phrase “every face” suggests that the problems of poverty and oppression are widespread and affect everyone in the city. This repetition also creates a sense of urgency, as if Blake is calling for immediate action to address these issues.

Overall, the theme of revolution in “London” reflects Blake’s belief that society needed to change in order to improve the lives of its citizens. His powerful imagery and use of repetition make a compelling argument for radical reform, and his message still resonates today.

The Use of Allusion in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful critique of the social and political conditions of his time. One of the most striking features of the poem is its use of allusion, which adds depth and complexity to its meaning. Allusion is a literary device that refers to a well-known person, place, or event in order to convey a deeper meaning. In “London,” Blake uses allusion to connect the suffering of the people in his poem to larger historical and mythological themes. For example, he alludes to the biblical story of the Fall of Man when he writes, “And the hapless Soldier’s sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls.” This line suggests that the corruption and violence of the ruling class is a result of their separation from God and their rejection of moral values. Similarly, Blake alludes to the myth of Prometheus when he writes, “Every face in every street / Portrays the same deceit.” This line suggests that the people of London are oppressed and exploited by those in power, just as Prometheus was punished for stealing fire from the gods. By using allusion in this way, Blake creates a rich and complex portrait of London that speaks to the universal human experience of suffering and injustice.

The Theme of Human Suffering in William Blake’s London

William Blake’s poem “London” is a powerful portrayal of the human suffering that was prevalent in the city during the late 18th century. The poem is a commentary on the social and political issues of the time, and it highlights the plight of the poor and the oppressed. The theme of human suffering is central to the poem, and Blake uses vivid imagery and powerful language to convey the pain and misery that was experienced by the people of London. The poem is a stark reminder of the harsh realities of life in the city, and it serves as a warning against the dangers of social inequality and injustice. Through his poetry, Blake challenges us to confront the suffering of our fellow human beings and to work towards a more just and equitable society.

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Analysis of William Blake’s London

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on February 17, 2021 • ( 0 )

London   is one of the grimmest of William Blake’s songs of experience (see Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Like “The Tyger” and the “experienced” version of “Holy Thursday,” this is one of the comparatively few songs that seem to be written in Blake’s own voice. The tone is one of reproach so severe that it defeats even sardonic irony. But it must be kept in mind that such reproach is partial—paradoxically, because it is so total as to affect the speaker himself and to jaundice his own view. Although he can see how terrible the world is, Blake is not exempt from the famous “mind-forg’d manacles” (l. 8) he sees binding everyone everywhere.

What are those manacles? They are, first of all, a metaphor for oppression that people could cast off if they wished to. The manacles do not have material reality, although they have material consequences. But because people’s minds, as well as their bodies, are enslaved, they are unlikely to cast the off the manacles. Their slavery and oppression goes deeper than material life can reach, although it is a consequence of the materialism and greed of the enslaving interests—the rich and the government. And everyone is enslaved: The speaker sees “marks of weakness, marks of woe” in “every face” he meets (ll. 3–4). The poem’s repetitive fury— chartered, mark, every, cry —seems to leave no out at all.

Indeed, the poem does not make room for the happiness of innocence that the Songs of Innocence have treated so touchingly. The infants in “London” cry with fear, and the chimney sweepers’ cry is one of pain, not simply (as in the “innocence” version of “ The Chimney Sweeper ”) meant as the announcement of their availability. The speaker of “London” may be correct in what he hears in these cries, but that is not the only thing to hear in them. Blake himself declares that poetic vision means seeing beyond the material world, the world of the senses, and not becoming enslaved to the oppression that it shows one everywhere. In his book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , he has the sublime Satanic figure who represents him ask: “How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, / Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?” (plate 6). The speaker of “London,” then, while accurate, must also be regarded as partial, as himself unable to break his own mind-forged manacles.

There is reason for his despair, however. The London he describes is real, and the oppression and misery that it contains ubiquitous. The statesman Edmund Burke, who famously defended what he called “the chartered rights of Englishmen,” was violently opposed to the French Revolution (for which Blake had great hopes, as his 1791 prophetic poem The French Revolution attests). Against perfect liberty Burke set the materialistic rights of property, and it was these rights, enshrined in the charters—both the laws and the documents of ownership—that Blake saw as oppressive.

The defense of these charters required the courage and blood of soldiers (l. 11) who might otherwise find no way to survive. The churches of London, parts of the established Church of England, supported the government’s policies and did so at the expense of the poor; here Blake refers in shorthand to his Chimney Sweeper poems when he writes of how the sweeps’ cries appalled the churches that were blackening the children around them (who remove the black soot from the chimneys) with their indifference to the misery of the children and the poor (“London,” ll. 9–10). The children—perhaps like the nurse in the “experienced” version of “The Nurse’s Song,” or perhaps like her charges as she sees them—become harlots even in their youth (l. 14), not only unsympathetic to their own illegitimate children who interfere with the only way they can survive, but to all the infants of the city.

Their “curse” is an expression of bitterness, but also a physical state—both sexuality (menstruation, as Harold Bloom argues) and the woes that attend it within the vast hypocrisy of London as well as venereal disease: the plague with which they blight marriage. The “marriage hearse” of the poem’s last line interprets what should be a joyful occasion as a deadly one: The groom will transmit to his wife the venereal disease he has become infected with through his consorting with prostitutes, even as he abandons the prostitutes to their own fate. The newlywed couple are going to their graves or are going to procreate children who will repeat the dreadful experience of life in London. The poem’s vision of London is bitter and hopeless.

But what are we to make of the speaker? In many ways he is an aspect of Blake, in the mode of the biblical prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel whom he so much admired and who blasted the Israelites from the wilderness or the dungheap. Blake makes the connection explicit in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell when he describes a fancy of dining with Isaiah and Ezekiel: “I then asked Ezekiel why he eat dung, & lay so long on his right & left side? he answer’d, ‘the desire of raising other men into a perception of the infinite; this the North American tribes practise, & is he honest who resists his genius or conscience. only for the sake of present ease or gratification?’” The bitterness of tone in “London” is therefore not the last word. Its purpose is to demonstrate the baseness to which humanity has fallen, not in order to promote despair but to provoke change. Thus, Isaiah, the other prophetic denunciator of his people, whom Blake imagines dining with him and Ezekiel, asserts the power and truth of his chastising vision when Blake asks him how he dared to assert he spoke on behalf of God: “I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover’d the infinite in every thing, and as I was then perswaded, & remain confirm’d, that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences but wrote.”

The important thing to see here is that an assertion of the stark and oppressive limitations of the material world is not the last but the first step toward speaking with the voice of God about the infinite in everything. Those who would charter the city and the river are those who impose weakness and woe everywhere, and those who resist the determinate limitations of the material and financial world are those who can transcend human weakness for the transcendence offered to visionary power, hope, and love. Far from turning their backs on the world, Blake thinks such prophets, among whom he includes himself, will change it.

Bibliography Bloom, Harold. Blake’s Apocalypse: A Study in Poetic Argument. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970. ———. Poetry and Repression: Revisionism from Blake to Stevens. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1976. Damrosch, Leopold. Symbol and Truth in Blake’s Myth. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980. Erdmann, David V. Blake, Prophet against Empire: A Poet’s Interpretation of the History of His Own Times. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1977. Fry, Northrop. Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974. Gilchrist, Alexander. Life of William Blake, with Selections from His Poems and Other Writings. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1973. Hollander, John. “Blake and the Metrical Contract.” In From Sensibility to Romanticism, edited by Frederick Hilles and Harold Bloom. New York: Oxford, 1965. Reprinted in John Hollander, Vision and Resonance: Two Sense of Poetic Form, 293–310. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985. Raine, Kathleen. Blake and Antiquity. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1977. Thompson, E. P. Witness against the Beast: William Blake and The Moral Law. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43673/london-56d222777e969

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by William Blake

I wander thro’ each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice : in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

Summary of London

• Popularity of “London”: William Blake, a famous English poet and painter, wrote ‘London’. It is a narrative poem about the sufferings during the industrialization. It was first published in 1974 in his volume, Songs of Experience. The poem speaks about the speaker ’s journey through the streets of London, portraying the negative aspects of that city. Its also deals with child labor and slavery.
• “London” As a Representative of Sorrow: The poem reflects upon the poet’s experiences during his life in London. He narrates what he sees and hears while wandering in the streets of London. The poem begins when the speaker is walking along the Thames River. As he travels along, he encounters many weary and mournful faces. He continues observing and hears crying and sounds of suffering because people are forced to work in horrid condition. Also, he expresses resentment on how poverty and sickness have doomed everything around him. He continues to describe the miserable cries of chimney sweepers, darkening churches and the soldiers who died because of war. At midnight, he hears the prostitute cursing his baby’s cry. This curse would surely affect the innocence and purity of that tiny soul. Thus, London forces people to live a life of misery.
• Major Themes in “London”: Affects of industrialization, poverty, materialism and child labor are the major themes of this poem. The poet expresses the darker aspects of London. He discusses how the city is plagued with sickness, poverty and moral corruption. People are not getting legitimate treatment with resultant agony and distress. Death is also one of the prominent themes of this poem. He comments on how the church walls are covered with blood due to wars. Hence, he also tells how the upper class tormented the working people, including children.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “London”

literary devices are tools used by writers to convey their emotions, ideas, and themes to make texts more appealing to the reader. William Blake has employed some literary devices in this poem to picture the image of London in the early 18 th century. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.

• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /e/ in “In every voice: in every ban”.
• Consonance : Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /s/ in “Marks of weakness, marks of woe”.
• Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession. For example, the sound of /s/ in “And the hapless Soldiers sigh”.
• Enjambment : It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break ; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,

“But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.”

• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “I wander thro’ each charter’d street”, “How the Chimney-sweepers cry” and “Runs in blood down Palace walls.”
• Symbolism : Symbolism means to use symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. Here, “soldier’s sigh” symbolizes the state of frustration, “chimney sweeper” is the symbol of death, darkness and destruction and “harlot’s curse” symbolizes the prostitute’s pathetic life experiences.
• Metaphor : It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects different in nature. For example, “The mind-forg’d manacles I hear” is a metaphor for the hardships of the people working in industries, which is equal to working in prison.
• Anaphora : It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. The below lines express the sorrow of the citizens suppressed under the upper class.

“In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban.”

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “London”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas in this poem, with each having four lines in it.
• Quatrain : A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, each stanza is quatrain as the first one.
• Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme and this pattern continuous till the end.
• End Rhyme : End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, “cry/sigh”, “hear/tear” and “flow/woe.”

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below are suitable for explaining the life of people leading a life of extreme misery and longing for liberation from oppression.

“ In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.”

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

William blake (1757–1827).

Songs of Experience: The Tyger

William Blake

The Angel Appearing to Zacharias

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

Angel of the Revelation (Book of Revelation, chapter 10)

Elizabeth E. Barker Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

William Blake (1757–1827), one of the greatest poets in the English language, also ranks among the most original visual artists of the Romantic era . Born in London in 1757 into a working-class family with strong nonconformist religious beliefs, Blake first studied art as a boy, at the drawing academy of Henry Pars. He served a five-year apprenticeship with the commercial engraver James Basire before entering the Royal Academy Schools as an engraver at the age of twenty-two. This conventional training was tempered by private study of medieval and Renaissance art; as revealed by his early designs for Edward Young’s Night Thoughts ( Nature revolves, but Man advances ), Blake sought to emulate the example of artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Dürer in producing timeless, “Gothic” art, infused with Christian spirituality and created with poetic genius.

In 1782, Blake married Catherine Boucher (1762–1831), an impoverished grocer’s daughter who would become his studio assistant. Blake now threw his energies into developing his career as an engraver, opening a short-lived print shop with a fellow Basire apprentice (James Parker) in 1784, before striking out on his own ( Job, a Historical Engraving ). The great advance in Blake’s printmaking occurred in 1787, following the untimely death, probably from tuberculosis, of the artist’s beloved younger brother Robert, who had been living with William and Catherine since 1784. Blake reported discovering his wholly original method of “relief etching”—which creates a single, raised printing surface for both text and image—in a vision of Robert soon after his death. Relief etching allowed Blake to control all aspects of a book’s production: he composed the verses, designed the illustrations (preparing word and image almost simultaneously on the same copper printing plate), printed the plates, colored each sheet by hand (where necessary), and bound the pages together in covers. The resulting “illuminated books” were written in a range of forms—prophecies, emblems, pastoral verses, biblical satire, and children’s books—and addressed various timely subjects—poverty, child exploitation, racial inequality, tyranny, religious hypocrisy. Not surprisingly, these works rank among Blake’s most celebrated achievements ( 17.10.42 ; The Ancient of Days ; Los, his Spectre; and Enitharmon before a Druid Temple ).

Blake’s technical experiments of the 1790s culminated in a series of large color prints notable for their massive size and iconic designs. Unaccompanied by any text, they comprise his most ambitious work as a visual artist. No commission or public exhibition is recorded, and the intended program of the group remains uncertain: of the twelve known designs, many of the subjects—drawn from the Bible, Shakespeare ( 58.603 ), Milton, and other sources ( Newton )—function as pairs.

Blake described his technique as “fresco.” It appears to be a form of monotype: using oil and tempera paints mixed with chalks, Blake painted the design onto a flat surface (a copperplate or piece of millboard), from which he pulled the prints simply by pressing a sheet of paper against the damp paint. He finished the designs in ink and watercolor , making each—rare—impression unique.

For Blake, the Bible was the greatest work of poetry ever written, and comprised the basis of true art, as opposed to the false, pagan ideal of classicism. He found a sympathetic patron in Thomas Butts (1757–1845), a prosperous Swedenborgian (a member of the Protestant sect founded by the eighteenth-century Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg). Butts amassed a small fortune as a clerk in the office of the Muster Master General, and became Blake’s most loyal patron and closest friend. During the decade 1799–1809, Butts commissioned from Blake a series of illustrations to the Bible that included about fifty tempera paintings ( 51.30.1 ) and more than eighty watercolors ( 14.81.2 ). These focus on Old Testament prefigurations of Christ, the life of Christ , and apocalyptic subjects from the Book of Revelation, although the series’ exact program and its intended display remain unclear.

For the rest of his life, Blake continued to develop his art on an inward-looking, imaginative trajectory. Whereas notable contemporaries such as J. M. W. Turner and John Constable found the subjects of their art in the landscape, Blake sought his (primarily figural) subjects in journeys of the mind. (Indeed, he never traveled outside of Britain and, aside from a brief period on the southern coast of England—where he worked for the poet William Hayley in Felpham from 1800 to 1803—spent his entire life in London.) In addition to the Bible and his own writings, Blake drew on other texts—most notably, Dante ( Beatrice addressing Dante from the Car )—and found a seemingly inexhaustible source of inspiration in his own fertile mind ( The Ghost of a Flea ).

Barker, Elizabeth E. . “William Blake (1757–1827).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/blke/hd_blke.htm (October 2004)

Further Reading

Bindman, David. William Blake: His Art and Times . Exhibition catalogue. New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 1982.

Butlin, Martin. William Blake . Exhibition catalogue. London: Tate Gallery, 1978.

Hamlyn, Robin, and Michael Phillips. William Blake . Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001.

Additional Essays by Elizabeth E. Barker

• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ The Printed Image in the West: Mezzotint .” (October 2003)
• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) .” (October 2004)
• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ John Constable (1776–1837) .” (October 2004)
• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ Watercolor Painting in Britain, 1750–1850 .” (October 2004)

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Essay On William Blake`s Poem "london"

Date : 03/03/2012

Author Information

Uploaded by : Sophie Uploaded on : 03/03/2012 Subject : English As one of William Blake's Songs of Experience, the poem, 'London' has a naturally supressing atmosphere with its underlying theme surrounding the corruption, industrialisation and capitalism brought upon London town in the 1790's and the rage it provoked among society. Even Michael Ferber, author of 'London and it Politics' quotes Arthur Miller saying, 'there is more understanding of the nature of a capitalist society in a poem like 'I wander through each charter'd street' than in the whole of the Socialist literature'.

Reflecting on this quote, the use of the word 'charter'd' seems notably ambiguous at first glance as it illustrates the chaotic streets of London as something almost organised and without confusion. This sense of organisation associated with the word dates back to the Chartist Movement of the nineteenth-century, dominated by its People's Charter and structured revolutionary tactics. However, the word 'charter'd' in this sense is not without confusion in such a context. As Ferber says, 'one man's charter is another's manacle; charters are exclusive' and this is a perfectly valid comment; when one man is given rights it is almost certain the consequence will be another's are removed. In a sense this shines a light on the nature of English society in the nineteenth-century. When the state believed to be 'chartering' the streets and creating stability, they were in fact only prompting further unrest and distancing themselves further from the needs of society.

Similarly, the word 'charter'd' can also have connotations of hiring and leasing which emphasises how the city is claiming to own its people and suggests the unjust nature of capitalism in its infancy with money being taken from the majority, the working classes, and transferred to the minority of aristocracy through taxation. This lack of freedom and essential funds is essentially highlighted through the use of the word 'wander' which illuminates the idea of isolation, vulnerability and predominantly slavery. In a sense, this stresses the exploitation of labourers throughout the industrialisation period, with Ferber commenting that it was prompted by 'the monopolistic and exploitative practices of England's commercial empire'. In every way, the opening line of the poem encompasses, more philosophically, Marx's view on society that it mirrors its economic base; for instance if we are surrounded by a corrupted economical system, in this case dominated by capitalism, our workers will become alienated and the aspect of equality throughout humanity will be evaporated.

Additionally, the way the first stanza is structured compliments the undercurrents of depression and ultimate unrest mentioned. The use of the words 'wander', 'charter'd' and 'mark' all contribute to the sombre atmosphere with the long, drawn out, 'A' sound conjuring up a sense of lethargy, prompting the reader to almost imagine the man's 'cry' of despair. Furthermore, the repetition of the word, 'mark' is particularly disturbing as it emphasises how the people are constantly branded with visible signs of misery and 'woe'. The way the word shifts from the verb formation to the noun in line 4 can also stand to emphasise how the narrator is not just an apathetic spectator but acting as one of the sufferers himself, immediately making the poem seem more personal.

As the poem enters its second stanza, the sense of suffering and hopelessness is only emphasised further. The immediate introduction to the repeated 'every' instantly stresses how no one is immune from such destruction and imprisonment; even the reader is caught up in the action with the constant references to sounds, making escape that much harder as we cannot shut our ears to what is going on; the reader is made to endure and participate in the action instead of passively observing it. In particular, it is powerful to hear the words, 'in every ban' which could be referencing excommunication by the church, as it illuminates how the church, a persons only sanctuary, is being removed from them, establishing even more this sense of isolation among society. However, it is more likely to be seen as a metaphor for corruption and a criticism of the institutionalised world or more simply capitalism. From a Marxist perspective, such an institution would been seen as a key feature of a capitalist society and equally supports the Marxist critic Althusser when he says, 'the power of the state is also maintained more subtly, by seeming to secure the internal consent of the citizen using.ideological structures.such as churches' Therefore, it can be said that the presence of this corrupt religious structure is the tool constraining the thoughts and actions of the people of London.

However, possibly the most potent image of entrapment comes with the picture of 'mind-forged manacles'. There is a strong sense here that the people were creating their own fear, their own mental chains, prompted by the harsh capitalist authority to terrify them into committing to intensive, hard labour to make their industrial businesses boom. As such a phrase ends with 'I hear' and the 'I' figure after no intervention from the narrator throughout the stanza, it emphasises the shock and overwhelmed responses to such human suffering where people could not find the words to react to what was happening around them. Intrinsically, the quote could also be seen to represent the typical Marxist view that the working classes could not rise up against the bourgeoisie, in the corrupted capitalist world they were surrounded by, as they had them convinced that society could not be changed and that they were free, only imagining their own exploitation. This evidently supports the well known quote from Karl Marx that 'No mind is free, they only perceive it to be'.

In stanza 3 of the poem, the tone intensifies with the giving of further harsh examples of corruption in society. It begins as though in mid-sentence, emphasising to the reader that the list is a never-ending one, prompting an even bleaker view of England in the nineteenth-century. The opening phrase in the stanza introduces us to the 'chimney-sweeper's cry every blackening church appalls' which can be taken literally in the respect that the sweeps made the church look noticeably blackened, however it can also be seen more metaphorically in that the church's reputation was being besmirched by their blatant lack of response to the corruption of society with its subsequent interest in child labour. The word 'appalls' only emphasises this, meaning the cover that is laid over a coffin, influencing the reader to think of the church as effectively dead, burying its traditional principles in order to satisfy the capitalist phenomenon.

The reference to 'the hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls' is similarly powerful. The deliberate use of sibilance provides an onomatopoeic hiss that conjures a particularly sinister atmosphere to emphasise the soldier's on-going weakness, being forced into battle for a country they no longer appreciate and are appreciated by. The addition of 'runs in blood down palace walls' is a particularly strong image as it shows how the soldiers blood is symbolically marking the palace walls, and most importantly the walls of the ultimate power, making it obvious to the whole of society that death and suffering is ever present all around them.

The final stanza begins in 'midnight streets' setting up an ominous atmosphere from the outset, yet the talk of 'the youthful harlot's curse blasts the new-born infant's tear' is particularly striking. The image of the harlot is again looked on with some sympathy for the fact that 'youthful' is placed before it; she is being pushed into such mature acts when she herself has not matured. As a result of her actions, she has cursed her child for she will never feel love towards it; it has been produced as a result of business and not out of genuine love. Essentially this can be seen as a perversion of maternity and more generally a metaphor concerning the sexual exploitation of women by the ruling elite. Blake's phrasing could be insinuating the sexually transmitted infections common amongst prostitutes of this time with the talk of her curse blasting the 'new-born infants tear' and subsequently their prominent guilt felts towards a child whom they knew would be infected with the same disease when born.

The phrase that ends the entire poem is possibly the most significant, the 'marriage hearse'. The phrase is an obvious oxymoron describing on the one hand a joyous and cheerful occasion comparing it with an uncomfortable image of death and unhappiness. Essentially this suggests that marriage prompts the death of love, in its most symbolic form, whereby the typical bourgeois relationship is surrounded by hypocrisy, with the husband frequently disowning his wife to pursue his other desires.

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London by William Blake, Essay Example

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The 16-line poem by William Blake entitled “London” is about the difficulty of living in an impoverished and painful city.  In lines 3-4 of the poem it reads, “And mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”  These lines clearly state the pain and suffering that the people of London were going through.  In the first two stanzas of the poem, Blake uses the word “every” six times.  This emphasizes that narrator’s belief that the “weakness” and “woes” of London are impacting every single person in the city.  There is not one person that does not feel the pain and anguish of the times.

The narrator continues in the third and fourth stanzas to describe the cries of the Chimney sweep, a typically impoverished occupation, and the realities of prostitution.  The narrator even suggests that the Harlot, or prostitute, “plagues the Marriage hearse.”  In other words, this suggests that prostitution is a fatal disease to the institution of marriage in London and it destroys families and relationships.  These are only a few of the many issues that are discussed throughout the poem, but it provides the reader with a true sense of the horrific scenes found in London during this time period.

It is fascinating to learn that the narrator believes that not one person escapes the touch of pain that inflicts life.  Although the “youthful Harlot’s curse” challenges and often destroys the sanctity of marriage, this suggests that the husbands have a choice in the matter.  In fact, the Harlot is likely a drug of choice that the husbands use to escape the pressures and pains of the society.  By beginning the poem with these painful descriptors, the author is implying that these force the people to cry out and cope with their pain in different ways.  The husbands are using Harlots to escape from the pain and deal with their problems inappropriately.  The narrator then mentions that the Harlots deliver a fatal blow to London marriages.  People may have a choice, but they often choose the option that has the greatest appeal as opposed to the option that delivers the best results in the long run.

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Blake's Revision of ‘London’

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V. DOYNO, Blake's Revision of ‘London’, Essays in Criticism , Volume XXII, Issue 1, January 1972, Pages 58–63, https://doi.org/10.1093/eic/XXII.1.58

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