Joanna Muralles

English 102

Professor Batty

19 September 2017

The City Cries

The Songs of Experience is a collection of poems by William Blake, the entire collection

of poems contains a narrative poem named London which was published in 1794. Many view

the city of London and its sights as beautiful and compelling. The poem captures the feelings and

gives the readers an insight look of what the daily lives of a London citizen actually maintained

as Blake takes a stroll through the streets. Although people may claim that the town was not

contaminated with corruption, through the authors use of repetition and imagery he is able to

show the corruption in London and how it has an impact on all the townspeople. He depicts

London in a degraded lens that proves that it was filled with fear and misconduct. The poem

serves as a wake up call to reality of what is the actual truth and to show the despair that London

is facing .

In the year of the 1700s the Industrial Revolution was beginning, it happen to begin in

the country known as England. The Industrial Revolution would have a large effect on the

country and its peoples lifestyles. This Revolution required that no laws be set forth to stop

industries from hiring children to work long hour shifts knowing that the job was not meant for

them. Nor did it allow for an input of a law to regulate the hazardous waste that would

contaminate the air that was produced by these manufactures. Free-market capitalism had no

constraints, the government had no involvement with the factories coming into town and doing
what they want. For those working in the factories the treatment was harsh and the conditions

that they were exposed to were worse having to work in these kinds of environment sucked the

life and energy of the citizens. The Industrial Revolution caused for the people to become

unhappy and unsatisfied. Others might believe that the Industrial Revolution impacted the town

in a great way by modernizing it and bringing in new jobs but Blake knew that the were

conditioned to live and the things that were forced to accept was no way to live.

William Blake was born in the year of the 1700s in London, England. Growing up he was

always an artists he first began his life as a painter who then made his way into the poetry

platinum. Since London is the hometown of the author the words and the way he paints the town

can be credible because it is coming from someone that experienced the livelihood firsthand. An

article titled William Blake stated that Blakes birthplace, 28 Broad Street, was near

fashionable Bond Street and Golden Square, an elegant oasis of a park, but also, as has been

observed, within sight of almost every sort of evil in eighteenth century London. Blake was

alive and present in the period when the city was suffering severely and he underwent all the

affects that it brought. It is clear that this specific poem is based upon his vision and his emotions

of the town, he shows he is unhappy with what the city has became. Although this certain piece

of many of his arts focuses on his hometown many of his other poems included various themes

such as love, childhood and human nature.

Throughout the poem it is obvious that there is an end rhyme pattern. The pattern is a and

b rhyme end. The poem also expresses iambic tetrameter , London is composed of four stanzas

with four lines making up each stanza. The first stanza, line one the last word is street and the

last word of the third line is meet both these words rhyme with one another demonstrating the

use of the iambic tetrameter. Also through this use it can be easier for a reader to analyze the
poem by making it a bit easier for them to understand it.This pattern is shown throughout the rest

of the stanzas. Rhyming words is a common method that is used in many poems. The use of

rhyming is very popular method when writing poems so when a rhyme scheme is found it makes

it easier for others to recognize a poem. The fact that London includes end rhymes gives it a

musical pattern and gives importance to the words that are being rhymed. Though the rhyme end

scheme is often used to make a poem musically, it is also used to make it easier to be recited. If

the rhyme scheme is present it could be easier for the reader to remember the poem and it can

stick to their memory. Reading the poem a loud and hearing the rhyme scheme and the sound of

it would have a fuller impact on the reader and allowing them to hear the words being rhymed.

When doing a close analysis on this poem Ive noticed that the use of repetition is present

in the second stanza, with the word every. The author says In every cry of every Man/In

every Infant's cry of fear, /In every voice: in every ban,(lines 5-7). As he walks through the

streets of London he hears the peoples cries of suffering and anguish. The repetition of the word

every adds emphasis to it and makes the reader pay close attention. This use of repetition could

be signifying that the problems that the London society is going through is drastically affecting

everybody in the community. The authors use of repetition allows for the readers to know that it

occurs to everyone in the town and how it can happen to anyone suffering from misconduct.

This particular line is an observation that was made by the author that lead us as the readers to

conclude that the town is undergoing an event that involves the citizens and maybe implying that

they need to unite with other to end it. The the emotions of the town could be frightening and

hurt because of the situation that they are currently facing.

Blake was able to incorporate imagery into this poem as well. When reading each stanza

it is clear that the town of London was facing hardships. Each line of every stanza clearly
describes the type of energy that was around in that time. In the poem Blake gives a description

of the negativity that surround the streets of London he says:

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every black'ning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldier's sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls ( lines 9-12)

Sighs and cries are signs of agony that the townspeople demonstrated. The stanza gives a look on

how the corruption affects every person in a any kind of social position. The chimney

sweepers would be considered the lower class here they are being compared to the church

who are the upper class but still they are both suffering from the same issues. The soldiers

mistreatment demonstrates that their leader shows that he is lacking skills to get his people

out of a black hole that they are in. A published article stated that The Songs of Experience

(1794) was a much mature work. It showed the sufferings of the miserable. It marked the

poets progress in his outlook on life. To him, experience had brought a fuller sense of the

power of evil, and of the great misery and pain of the peoples life. This stanza provides a

description of the aching of the town. You as the reader can envision yourself walking down

the streets taking in all the devastation that London offered. Blake focuses on the misfortunes

that the British capital was going through and he makes it obvious throughout the entire

poem. The descriptions that he uses fall under the category of dark and miserable.

The last stanza describes a endless cycle of a society that stuck in poverty and a town

without morals:
 But most thro' midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlot's curse

Blasts the new-born Infant's tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse(lines 13-16)

This stanza exposes the corruption that circles the people of London and the unpleasant things

that one would run into. A Harlot is defined as a prostitute, in this stanza the youth turning

towards prostitution for livelihood, it goes to show how poor they were and the extremities that

they had to turn to it shows how bad the economy was and what they had to turn to. The curse

words are heard by the newborns who are meant to be the next generation but are being brought

upon these influences which would not apply a stop to the corruption. As they are brought upon

by the previous youths they are now what makes up the new society of London keeping the torch

of corruption present and alive. The society is corrupted and the corruption continues to grow.

Though many can interpret this poem as they would like, the poem does gives you an

imaginative walk through of the British society which is made up of fear and crookedness. The

author portrays the town using very descriptive lines which allows for the reader to picture the

environment. The authors use of imagery and repetition characterizes London in a negative light

showing its true colors. Blakes reason for discussing all the corruption was to bring awareness

to others that how under the government the citizens were suffering economically and how that

lead most of them to lose their moral and ethnic behaviors. Once the readers are aware they will

show compassion to the citizens suffering and they will now know that the way they live is not

ideal and that they should not accept their conditions.

 Work Cited

1. Blake, William. London by William Blake. Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 1794,

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

2. Zhan,Chang Juan. William Blake and His Poem London.Theory and Practice in

Language Studies . 2013 Academy Publisher,September 2013.

http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/09/15.pdf

3. Morsberger, Katharine M. "William Blake." Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.

N.p.: Salem, 2016. N. pag. Ers. Web. 25 Sept. 2017