Self-Made Misery in Blake’s London Essay -- Blakes London Essays

Self-Made Misery in Blakes capital of the United Kingdom The poet William Blake paints a picture of the dirty, miserable streets of London in his metrical composition, London. He describes the wretched people at the bottom of the society, the chimney-sweeps, soldiers, and harlots. These people bellyache turn out from their pain and the injustices done to them. The entire poem centers around the wails of these people and what they strike become due to wrongs done to them by the rest of society, primarily institutions much(prenominal) as the church and government. Are these people really wronged, however? The poem seems to suggest that the injustices they have been subjected to are of their own making. In Blakes poem he says that as he passes through London he sees a sword in every face he meets/ Marks of weakness, marks of woe. (3-4) He talks about how everywhere he hears cries of fear and suppression. The church seems to be ignoring the cry of the poor chimney-sweep in lines nine and ten. The soldier dies on the palace walls with a sigh. These are examples of the wretchedness of the lives that people lead. The central ide...