Metre
Iambic
Atmosphere
Naturally suppressing atmosphere with underlying theme surrounding the corruption, industrialisation and capitalism brought upon London Town in the 1970s
‘Charter’d’
Notably ambiguous
- first glance it illustrates the chaotic streets of London’s as something almost organised and without confusion
- sense of organisation associated with word dates back to Chartist movement of the nineteenth century, dominated by its people’s charter and structured revolutionary tactics
What does ‘charters:m also mean
Charters are exclusive
- when one man is given rights it is almost certain the consequence will be another’s are removed
- 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
What does the word ‘charter’d’ have connotations of?
Hiring and leasing which emphasises how the city is claiming to own its people
- suggests 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
‘Wander’
Lack of freedom and essential funds is highlighted
- illuminates idea of isolation, vulnerability and slavery
- stresses exploitation of labourers throughout the industrialisation period
Opening line
Encompasses Marx’s view on society that it mirrors its economic base; for instance if we are surrounded by a corrupted economical system, (capitalism) workers will become alienated and the aspect of equality throughout humanity will be evaporated
Structure of first stanza
Compliments undercurrents of depression and unrest
- words ‘wander, charter’d and mark’ all contribute to somber atmosphere with long drawn out ‘A’ sound conjuring up a sense of lethargy, printing reader to imagine mans ‘cry’ of despair
Repetition of ‘mark’
Emphasises how people are constantly branded with visible signs of misery and ‘woe’
- word shifts from the verb formation to noun in line 4 - emphasises how the narrator is not just an apathetic spectator but acting as one of the sufferers himself, making poem more personal
Second stanza
- suffering and hopelessness emphasises further
Repetition of ‘every’
No one is immune from such destruction and imprisonment - reader is caught up in the action with constant references to sounds, making escape that much harder
- reader is made to endure and participate in the action instead of passively observing urn
‘In every ban’
Referencing excommunication by the church, shows how the church a persons only sanctuary is removed from them, establishing sense of isolation among society
- also seen as a metaphor for corruption and a criticism of the institutionalised world or more simply capitalism
- banns of marriage - means proclamation - purpose is to raise any legal impediment to the marriage - to prevent ones which aren’t valid
Althusser
Power of state maintained more subtly
- secures internal consent of citizen using ideological structures such as churches
- presence of corrupt religious structure is the tool constraining the thoughts and actions of the people in London
Picture of ‘mind forged manacles’
People creating their own fear which is prompted by the harsh capitalist authority to terrify them into committing to intensive hard labour to make their industrial businesses boom
Phrase ends with ‘I hear’
‘I’ figure after no intervention from the narrator throughout the stanza emphasises the shock and overwhelmed responses to such human suffering where people cannot find 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
Stanza 3
Tone intensifies
- giving of further harsh examples
- begins mid sentence - emphasising that the list is never ending, prompting a bleaker view of England in nineteenth century
Opening phrase in stanza thee
‘Chimney- sweepers cry every blackening church appalls’ sweeps made the church look noticeably blackened
- metaphorically in that the churhces reputation was being besmirched by their blatant lack of response to the corruption of society with its subsequent interest in child labour
What does the word ‘appall’ mean
Cover laid over a coffin
- influencing the reader to think of the church as effectively dead
- burying its traditional principles in order to satisfy capitalist phenomenon
‘Hapless soldier’s eight runs in blood down palace walls’
Deliberate use of sibilance provides an onomatopoeic hiss that conjured a particularly sinister atmosphere to emphasise the soldiers on going weakness, being forced into battle
- image of soldiers blood symbolically marking the palace walls - walls of ultimate power, making it obvious to the whole society that death and suffering is ever present around them
Final stanza begins in
‘Midnight streets’ setting up an ominous atmosphere
- yet talk of ‘the youthful harlot’s curse blasts the new born infants tear’ is particularly striking
- looked on with sympathy
- pushed into mature acts when she is not yet matured
- cursed her child because she won’t feel love towards it
- produced as a result of business and not genuine love
- pervasive of maternity and generally a metaphor concerning the sexual exploitation of women by the ruling elite
Blake’s phrasing of ‘the youthful harlots curse….’
Could be insinuating sexually transmitted infections common amongst prostituted of this time
- prominent feeling of guilt toward a child whose they know would be infected with the same diseases
Ending phrases
‘Marriage hearse’
- oxymoron describing on the one hand a joyous and cheerful occasion comparing it with an uncomfortable image of death and unhappiness
- 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
Stanzas
Quatrains
- ABAB rhyme scheme
Poems rhyme
Form of repetition
- every other rhyme lines
- repetition suggests that the speaker sees cyclical and repetitive - evils of London with pursue and persist
