How does Blake criticize society in the poem “London”?

Answer

How does Blake criticize society in the poem “London”?

In “London” (1794), William Blake attacks society’s greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy. To do this, he uses simple but powerful images. In the poem, he shows how the rich and powerful crush the poor and trap everyone in a cycle of suffering.

Control: The poem begins with Blake walking through the streets of London. He tells us the streets and even the river Thames are “charter’d”—

“Where the charter’d Thames does flow.”

It means that the river Thames is owned and controlled by the rich or the government. This shows that nothing in the city is free—even nature is trapped by human greed.

Hypocrisy of Church, King, and Society: Blake meets people from all walks of life. Here, the children are forced to work as chimney sweepers, soldiers are sent to die in wars, and young women are forced into prostitution. Each person’s face shows pain and suffering. Blake writes:

“And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”

Blake criticizes powerful institutions like the Church, the monarchy, and the government. The Church, which should help the poor, is “blackning”—because it ignores the suffering around it. The king’s palace is stained by the blood of soldiers dying in wars.

In this society, even the marriage—which should be about love—is ruined. Poor girls become “harlots” to survive. Their “curse” kills babies, spreads diseases, and ruins marriages. The poet writes:

“The youthful Harlots curse…

plagues the Marriage hearse”

Mental Slavery: Blake uses metaphors like “mind-forg’d manacles” to explain that people are not just physically trapped but mentally trapped too. They accept their suffering as normal because society teaches them to.

In short, Blake wants readers to see how society’s systems create endless misery. The poem is not just about 18th Century London—it asks us to question power, greed, and injustice