Literary Analysis Of London By William Blake's London

In the poetry “London” by William Blake (1757-1827), he writes the facts and the people he sees in London’s street. What is more, London was the central city during the first Industrial Revolution which caused an enormous economic growth in England. However, the economic growth was not benefit for every person in London.William Blake in “London” uses some literary poetic devices to describe a real London, where the city has a huge gap between the rich and the other people. Upper class and wealthy people have the control of various sides of London and affect the other normal people. In the poem “London”, William Blake writes that: “I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.” (1st- 2nd line) Author writes chartered in a contraction way, so he classifies the street in London and the Thames River as chartered things. Chartered street means that author and other people have to get permission before they go to the street.

In the poem, it says “And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls” (9th -12th lines). Soldiers represented a sort of people who can not be regarded as the rich people and have a normal society position in the poem “London”. They were hapless and sighing in the poem, by contrast, the palace-walls were in blood. Palace was a metaphor to the rich since the rich could have more powers in London during the First Industry Revolution. “blood” means that the soldiers are using their lives to protect the palace, it was also an apparent contrast with the palace which usually are supposed to be the symbol of clean and noble. Then it is obvious that the rich lived in palace and the soldiers served the palace for the rich with blood. Thus, the rich is different than the other people since the rich can order the other people to serve themselves by their