The speaker of the poem emphasizes the social and economic differences that separate the citizens of London. By repeating the word "charter'd", he reminds the reader of the commercial nature of the city, the fact that portions of it are owned, and that not everyone has equal access to goods or property. In the first line of his poem as Blake speaks of how he is wandering through the "charter'd" streets, he is commenting on this commercial aspect of London. As he moves on in his poem he also refers to the "charter'd" Thames, he is telling us in this second line that even a river which is a force of nature, is owned in London. When Blake says that he sees "m

Blake's short poem about the city of London is packed with his opinions of the injustices of his time. It is a moving poem, which addresses the pervasive sense of misery and entrapment that existed in the city. For us, it is a window into a not so happy past that existed in Europe during the 18th century. It is also striking how some of these

Blake is saying that the soldiers are forced to give their lives for the royal family, who stays safely behind their palace walls.

know what is going to happen to them when they grow up and they fear the misery that

they will soon face. In the next line of the poem Blake chooses to use a very interesting word. When he writes "in every ban" he leaves the line open to many different interpretations. The word ban can mean a political prohibition, a curse, or an announcement of marriage. The political meaning is an obvious one in this poem, Blake obviously does not like the politics of London and he fells that the commercialism is preventing the people from being happy. In a way he is also saying that this commercialism is also a curse on the very people who are benefiting from it, because it is preventing them from being truly happy. Another connotation of curse during that time was venereal disease this as well as the connotation of marriage comes up later in the poem and can be found in the last stanza. In the last line of the second stanza, Blake speaks of mind forg'd manacles, this is very important to the poem. Blake is sayin

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1008
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)