How does Blake seek to influence the feelings of his readers for the victims of society which he believed was based on fear and repression rather than the brotherhood of man?

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Kate Dobbs

How does Blake seek to influence the feelings of his readers for the victims of society which he believed was based on fear and repression rather than the brotherhood of man?

William Blake was a radical humanist who composed his poems and songs during a period of great social commercialism and change. As a philosopher poet, Blake disagreed with reason and empiricism. He was a fierce critic of organised religion and the authoritarian abuse of power. His collection of poetry, ‘The songs of innocence and experience’, sought to enlighten his contemporaries on his philosophies concerning English society. The first and most poignant of the poems that I have chosen is ‘London’.

        ‘London’ is a poem that explores the hypocrisy and corruption that was conducted in the busy metropolis of Blake’s time. Whilst many had looked upon London as a shining example of man’s ability to progress within technology and architecture to create a modern society, Blake saw through this guise. In his ‘London’, Blake saw the exploitation of children, through prostitution and slave labour, and the blatant hypocritical behaviour amongst those in authority.

        Repetition of the word ‘chartered’ in the first stanza adheres to the conventional view of London, an opinion of a city that is well mapped out, a city that is at the fore front of design. Yet Blake uses the word ‘chartered’ to a different effect, suggesting that the evil and wrong doings to be found within London were planned and carefully carried out. The poem makes good use of repetition, emphasising the adverb ‘every’ as it refers to the ‘marks of woe’ upon all the civilians faces.  The reiteration of this is serves as a striking contrast against the initial opinion of London as a city of progress. Blake establishes that the people of London are held in ‘mind forg’d manacles’. In this he is referring to the metaphorical shackles that hold every man, woman and child in poverty.

        Blake begins his critique of authority in the third stanza when he refers to the ‘black’ning church’ and the ‘palace walls’. Blake had a great loathing of organised religion, believing that priests were greedy and corrupt, turning a blind eye to the evil around them. Therefore, the ‘mind forg’d manacles’ are also symbols of the religious oppression faced by the poor. The biblical reference to ‘plagues’ in the final stanza suggests that Blake considers that the diseases have been brought upon humanity by the hand of God. References to prostitution support this claim, implying Blake considered extra marital sex to be one of the great sins of mankind. The plagues could be references to venereal disease, which in itself would ‘blight the marriage hearse’. This also supports Blake’s statement from ‘The marriage of heaven and hell’: ‘brothels are made with the bricks of religion.’ Blake believed that because the religious leaders were doing nothing to stop the evil around them, they were encouraging evil to occur.

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        By portraying the bustling capital city of England in this negative light, Blake is showing the antithesis to most people’s perceptions of London. His references to the corrupt nature of the government and particularly the Church, displays the fear and repression faced by the poverty stricken. He further develops this view in the poem ‘The chimney sweeper’ to be found in the songs of experience.

        It was common practice in the 18th century to employ a child to clean the chimneys of grand houses. Because the chimneys were so small, only the tiniest, youngest of children could squeeze into them, usually ...

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