London Analysis

For the most part, "London" is written in iambic tetrameter. This little meter is very similar to iambic pentameter, except that, instead of five iambs there are only four iambs (tetra means four,...

While lots of Blake's speakers are kids, this one is most likely an adult male (and we're just assuming that since Blake was also a dude), a dude that is really unhappy with the state of things Lon...

London: around 1794—that's the short answer to the question of where this poem takes place. Word. Well, if that's the short answer, what's the long(er) answer? Well, the longer answer is: the slu...

The speaker is obsessed with hearing in "London." Three of the poem's four stanzas, for example, say something about sound or hearing. Cries, curses, voices, "mind-forg'd manacles," and sighs all m...

It's just called "London." That's simple enough, isn't it? It's amazing that one word makes us think of so many things: the Thames, Westminster Abbey, the Crown Jewels, Big Ben, Charles Dickens, ba...

Blake talks about slavery and imprisonment, both literal and figurative, everywhere. And by all over, we mean all over. In his short works, in his long works, in his unpublished works, in his… we...

We know most of Blake's early poems (those in Songs of Innocence and Experience) are supposed to resemble children's poems, but, darn, sometimes they can be just a little bit tricky. "London" is a...

We're curious if Blake ever hallucinated. He claimed to have seen a tree full of angels when he was nine, and to have seen God "put his head to the window" when he was 4. (Source.)Lots of kids died...

There's no place for sex in a poem that's about poverty, death, chimney sweeping, blood, figurative and literal slavery, etc. Okay, yes, there's a very explicit reference to prostitution in the las...