Corruption, criminals, religion, relationships and nature are key and hard hitting aspects Blake is socially and politically protesting within London. Not only is he questioning the misery within the city, but takes it further to exemplify how the state, church and government unite together as criminals to allow such suffering to continue for the victims- ordinary people.
What's important about London is that in the late 18th century, Blake lived in the city. Therefore, this poem could be viewed as social commentary, identifying what he sees which is all morally wrong. However, it could also be viewed as a harsh diatribe, a critical piece to raise questions whether those in power are actually doing their jobs correctly. They are not.
Form and Structure - A01/2
To achieve Level 6, the top band of the mark scheme in GCSE English Literature, candidates must make reference to form and structure. In London, the structure is very significant, arguably more interesting than the language!
The poem is in a narrative structure so is in the form of a ballad and is written in a fixed ABAB rhyme scheme. What's interesting here could be that it almost creates a sense of impending doom, there is very little chance for these people to get rid of their life under social constraints, who have now been 'chartered'.
The cyclical structure beginning and ending with Blake's disdain with the city creates the idea that these people are trapped and isolated - the ruling ideology have lost all sight of freedom for ordinary people.
It's likely you've heard these points before. However, not many teachers or textbooks pay close attention to the one full stop in the poem. There is one evident after the metaphor 'marks of weakness, marks of woe.' in the first stanza. It's likely teachers find no consideration or enough scope in the full stop but this is very important. The poem itself is written in Iambic tetrameter but this metaphor is a deviation from this rigid structure that controls society. It's written in trochaic metre perhaps alluding to Blake's interest in revolutionary movements. This change in structure with the addition of the full stop stresses that there is limited time for people to pause and reflect on the immorality within the city and one day in the future, rise up against the capitalist state just like the peasantry did so in the French Revolution to achieve liberty - key human rights.
Context - A03
In Blake's time, the church was the most powerful ideological state apparatus, meaning they had supreme power to influence society. Blake here critically challenges the church that allow chimney-sweepers to 'cry'. Blake here addresses the corruption of the church that feed itself on suffering. Blake defines in London what Experience is: the fallen world, corruption, hypocrisy and religious immorality. This list is not exhaustive and there are many more....
Blake was influenced by contemporoary philisiopher, Rousseau. He argued that people are born free but are exploited by social institutions. Blake in London, depicts how the state, government and church come together to symbolise the unholy trinity that are the root to this misery and ever-lasting suffering.
Blake was a rebel and was in disgust with the Tory Conserative state. He liked what he saw in both the French and American Revolution where people rise up against the state and achieve freedom. This recurs in many Innocence poems too, especially in the Nurse's song where he believes children can be his future adults for the idealised state free of exploitation.
'Mark' itself could religiously allude the gospel. This could represent Blake's disdain at organised religion as this forbade Christians to have their own personal views about their faith. Therefore, the same way Blake was a dissenter (breaking away from the church and formed his own religious group), could highlight that people need to follow Blake's footsteps and too break from the cycle to achieve freedom from this miserable state.
A02/A03 - Language analysis with integrated context
What is interesting about the poem London is Blake's social and political protest against the tyranny of the hegemons. Blake establishes the moral corruption of society, and more specifically the city London as the beginning of the poem "I wander thro', which immediately gives the reader the impression that Blake is wondering through the streets of London, observing and embracing life, however, "Each Charter'd street" gives an imminent and historical reference.
Blake refers to how restricted and deprived London is off its freedom but also critiquing the way in which government has seized control over society, which directly parallels Blake's friend but also an activist Thomas Paine who published The Rights of Man in 1791, highlighting the ethical dubiousness of society, where in which granting Royal Charters to control trade was seen as a form of economical class oppression and thereby giving the ruling ideology the rights of individuality.
Notably, what is profoundly fascinating about the poem London is Blake's implicit reference to Althusser's Ideological State Apparatus (ISA's). The ISA's is ultimately the understanding of the way in which the 'structure' and 'function' of the ruling ideology gives them the right to oppress society and thereby expanding their political and social power. Blake thereby
indicates his political and social protest to emphasise how ultimately alienated society has become over greed, happiness and power. The class struggle Blake aims to ingrain into his readers understanding is that once the society that are abused rebel against the ruling ideology, justice cannot be served. If a society aims to be free and safe within their own environment, they must ensure that they are not oppressed. Blake's is visionary and thereby accentuating his political protest.
Moreover, Blake further deploys his social and political protest through "Marks of weakness, marks of woe." This metaphor is significant towards Blake's driven motive behind publishing his poems as the reader can infer two important aspects within this quotation. First being that the use of the syntactic parallelism of "Marks of" can mean the metaphorical scars left by the controlling, oppressive system which is making the Londoners vulnerable. But also, the metaphorical scars can also refer to the physical marks left by the syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that had infected nearly half of the population in London. The spread of syphilis was due to the "Youthful Harlots curse", sleeping with many men and thus amplifying the disease and diminishing the population. Interestingly, the term 'Harlot' can also be taboo lexis, since during Blake’s era it was seen as socially unacceptable but rife since many women had no other choice but to resort to prostitution.
Secondly, the "Marks of weakness, marks of woe", can also portray Blake's distain against established religion, but more specifically the stereotypes of the Old Testaments to which 'Marks' is an Old Testament Gospel. The fact that Blake decided to implicitly include, 'Marks' can illuminate his social and political protest, where in which religion in the late 1700s were seen to have been the corrupting and driving force that oppresses and represses individuality.
Overall, Blake in London seeks to show readers the plight of those suffering and the malpractices of the government, state and church failing to respond. Society is corrupt and exploited, but there is some chance for Londoners to get out this horrid cycle- rise up and be a rebel.
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