London Songs of Experience I wander thro each

London Songs of Experience

I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. 4 In every cry of every Man, In every Infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear. 8 How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry Every black'ning Church appalls; And the hapless Soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls. 12 But most, thro' midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot’s curse Blasts the new born Infant’s tear, And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. 16

1. Discuss the features of the industrial town; which would you expect to find in a poem? CONTENTS 2. Match the following words and phrases with words from the poem. 1. hired for a specific or private use (line 1) 2. sorrow (line 4) 3. public announcement or prohibition by law (line 7) 4. made, created (line 8) 5. rings or chains on the hands or feet of a prisoner (line 8) 6. shocks, upsets (line 10) 7. unlucky (line 11) 8. prostitute (line 14) 9. damns (line 15) 10. damages, spoils line (16) 11. A carriage which is used to carry a dead body to a funeral (line 16)

3. Describe in your own words: a) Who “I” is; b) What the setting in time and place is; c) Through what senses the speaker perceives the scene; d) What the living conditions of the people he sees are; STRUCTURE AND STYLE 4. Work out the rhyme scheme of the poem and say if it is regular or not. 5. Blake makes considerable use of repetition in the poem: he repeats sounds, words and concepts. Provide examples and say what effect they create, choosing among the following suggestions. Repetition of words: Repetition of sounds: Repetition of concepts:

• they underline the condition of suffering and disease surrounding the poet. • they create a sense of obsession and anxiety. • they increase musicality. 6. In Contents, Exercise 2 you learned the literal meaning of the word “chartered”. What symbolical meaning does it acquire from the context? 7. Line 8 contains a very powerful metaphor. 1. Write it down and analyse the terms 2. With whom or what does Blake identify the “manacles” in the poem? Consider the whole poem and then choose one or more answers among the following: religion, political institutions, prisons, marriage laws, schools, factories, misery, reason. 3. What does this metaphor reveal about Blake’s attitude to the society of his time? 4. In the third and fourth stanzas Blake points out some victims of the industrialised town: who are they?

8. How would you define the tone of the poem? What is the poet’s attitude? sad angry indignant accusing sorrowful prophetic sympathetic nostalgic emotional bitter 9. Express your point of view. a) What were your reactions to the poem? b) Think of the metaphor you analysed: what kind of constraint have you experienced so far? c) What “manacles” have you felt imprisoned by?