One poem which presents a completely different view to that of the title is “Laughing Song”. Unlike ‘London’ this presents a happy and optimistic view of childhood without any political and social constraints. Throughout the poem flora plays a huge part which coincidently is found in most of the poems in which Blake can be said to be happy. Words such as “green woods”, “dimpling stream”, “grasshopper laugh” all conjure up pictures of peace, happiness and freedom, something Blake thought to be missing in the industrialized world. He is also showing the beauty of childhood “When Mary and Susan and Emily, with their sweet round mouth sing ‘Ha, Ha, He’. It seems the children are careless and are just enjoying life a sharp contrast to “ The Chimney – Sweeper”. It seems that imagination offers freedom for the children in this poem, something that cannot be found in the city. This poem offers no melancholy and constraints thus it can be agued that there is escape form political and social constraints through childhood and laugher. Furthermore this is also seen in “The Echoing Green” where life is carefree and joyous “ does look away care” “laugh at play”, this poem is very simple word wise with a clear catchy rhyme which is done to show the simplicity of the echoing green, but in a positive sense. It seems that nature is the escape from political and social constraints in Blake’s world.
However political and social constraints occur once again in “The Schoolboy”. Hardy was a strong advocate against schools and asked his parent to withdraw him from an early age thus becoming self-educated. This was because he did not feel that the system stimulated him enough and thus this poem describes his thoughts. He saw children as “divine innocence” and to keep them locked in a classroom was a crime. In the poem this comes across through what the schoolboy thinks “O! it drives all joy away” referring to school and the teacher is branded as “a cruel eye outworn”. An important line in the text is when the boy says “Nor in my book can I take delight” showing that something as natural as books delight cannot be taken due to the confinements of the classroom. However the key messages are found in the third and fourth stanza when the boy is compared to a caged bird “How can the bird that is born for joy ,Sit in a cage and sing”. What Blake is alluding to here is that the social constraints of Education something that was seen as imperative to succeed in the Georgian society strip the children of their joy and innocence and if they are flowers whose “buds are nip'd”.
Lastly another poem where there seems to be no escape from political and social protest is “The Chimney – Sweeper which is a protest against the treatment of the poor and helpless characterized by the chimney sweeper. The institution in question is the Church of England, and society which Blake constantly protested about such as in the poem ‘London’ “Every blackning Church appalls, “. He is shunning society for not looking after the poor “"Where are thy father and mother? Say! “,It is evident that the government seem to be symbolized by the “father and mother” because they are responsible for the well-being of the poor. This line is saying that Blake believes that they are abandoning their responsibilities for what they believe more important such as church or upholding appearances. Blake is criticizing the British elite. He also criticizes religion which fails to pay attention to the poor of society, “And are gone to praise God and his priest and king”. This is ironic because in the Bible Jesus said that “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” and it seems that these church goers who supposedly believe in God are ignoring the very thing God said, thus Blake is criticizing the social constraints that the Church and the government put on the poor. It would be right to say that in this poem there is no escape from political and social constrains.
In conclusion it would seem that the question posed does not carry full truth but can be argued from both sides. In most of his poems there is no escape from these constraints, poems such as ‘London’ ‘The School Boy’ ‘ The Chimney Sweeper’ present a bleak reality of the impossibility of escaping from the political and social constraints that society impose upon its people. However Blake uses he idea of nature, his preferred side to show that there can be freedom. In a way the city and towns are the things that form the constraints however when one enters nature and lets their imagination run wild there is a long needed escape that Blake is more than happy to present.