Songs Of Innocence And Experience By William Blake

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Recommended: London by William Blake Critical Analysis

“William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist, poet, mystic, visionary and radical thinker.” (4) London comes from ‘Songs of innocence and Experience’ written by Blake in the 1790’s. The poem presents an incredibly negative view of London. In Blake’s view, the terrible living conditions are what caused physical, moral, and spiritual decay. The image of “the Chimney-sweepers cry/ Every blackening church appalls” conveys Blake’s attitude towards The Church of England. He doesn’t agree in having money spent on church buildings, while children live in poverty; forced to clean chimneys. Blake perceives this lack of compassion as a mockery of the beliefs of love and care that Christianity is founded on. In the third verse, we encounter the line, “blood down Palace walls”. This is a clear allusion to the French Revolution which took place only a few years before London was written. Blake also sees rapid urbanization as dangerous and unhealthy for humanity.
Nobody is free or happy in the poem; children are no longer free to enjoy their childhood and instead work in dangerous conditions. Charters restrict London’s streets and The River Thames, which leads to the rise of the few and the continual decline of the marginalized.
This essay will take a close reading of London, and examine the aforementioned conflicts that Blake sees in London society:

William Blake was born in London in 1757 and grew up without a formal education. The bible influenced Blake from early on, and it “was a profound influence on Blake, and remained a source of inspiration throughout his life.” (1) his love of the bible was so great, that in many occasions, he claimed to have ‘visions’. These visions manifested in he form of angels, Ezekiel, and even, god himself. ...

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...imism in the future. It states that when woman marry, their husbands will cheat on them with mistresses, and thus the women will die from the diseases their men contracted.
“blights with plague the Marriage hearse.”

In summation, William Blake’s London describes a journey through London, all the while providing an insight into the terrible conditions faced by the city’s poor. To do his, it begins with an attack on Capitalism; the custody of the streets and The Thames River. It then moves to exemplify London’s social enslavement. Blake also critiques he Church and is failure to protect he most vulnerable. Blake also describes the cry of the chimney sweeper and the blackening of the church walls, suggesting that the church neglected hose who needed it most. The poem end with a grim vision of child prostitution and the horrific consequence of sexual diseases.

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