Oppression and Spiritual Deterioration in William Blakes...

Oppression and Spiritual Deterioration in William Blakes Poem London London I wander thro each charterd street, 1 Near where the charterd Thames does flow, 2 And mark in every face I meet, 3 Marks of weakness, marks of woe. 4 In every cry of every Man, 5 In every Infants cry of fear, 6 In every voice, in every ban, 7 The mind-forgd manacles I hear: 8 How the Chimney-sweepers cry 9 Every blackning Church appalls, 10 And the hapless Soldiers sigh, 11 Runs the blood down Palace walls. 12 But most thro midnight streets I hear 13 How the youthful Harlots curse 14 Blasts the new-born Infants tear, 15 And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. 16†¦show more content†¦The groups (Church, Palace, Husbands) are chastised by Blake for their contractual interest in others, but lack of responsible concern. In lines three and four, the author begins to point out the visual evidences of societys spiritual malaise. Blake uses the word mark several times to show the reader the problems he sees have outward signs--marks of weakness, marks of woe. In stanza two, Blake leaves the visible evidence for the audible evidence, and we begin to hear the groans of a fallen world. Man and infant cry--one in experience, one in innocence--yet, both in a fallen world, both raising a pained voice. From line three on, the poem is filled with mournful, weary, destructive sounds--the pounding out of the mind-forgd manacles; the sad weep! weep! of the chimney-sweeper (Blake 33); the dying soldiers sigh; the harlots explosive, withering curse. All of these sounds contribute to the picture of society reeling in the deadly stages of metastasizing cancer. Repetition is at its most concentrated use in stanza two where the word every is used five times (seven times overall in the poem). Blake certainly wants the reader to know that the signs of oppression and slavery are everywhere and on every face-- no one is exempt. In line seven, Blake again skillfully uses a word with multiple meanings. Ban can be a curse, condemnation, marriage proclamation, or young French soldier. As a