by William Blake
I wander through each chartered (1) street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe (2). In every cry of every Man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban (3), The mind-forged manacles (4) I hear. How the Chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening Church (5) appals (6); And the hapless (7) Soldier's sigh Runs in blood down Palace (8) walls. But most through midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot's (9) curse Blasts (10) the new-born Infant's tear, And blights with plagues (11) the Marriage hearse (12).
| (1)
chartered: A charter was a document issued by King or Parliament
giving commercial privilegies to private bodies. Blake thought that
charters restricted the rights of the majority of citizens. Here it
means subject to commercial exploitation (2) woe: sorrow (dolore) (3) Ban: order forbidding something by law (bando) (4) manacles: iron rings for fastening the hands or feet of a prisoner (manette) (5) In Blakes' s time churches quickly turned black fron pollution by smoke from domestic fires and factory chimneys. (6) appals: shocks (atterrisca). (7) hapless: a poetic word for "unlucky" (sventurato) (8) Palace: stands for 'King'. Blake regarded wars as the work of kings, and monarchy as an unjustifiable evil. (9) Harlot: prostitute. (10) blasts: destroys (distrugga, inaridisca) (11) blights with plagues: contaminates with diseases (contamini con malattie). (12) Hearse: vehicle for carrying the body at a funeral |
| The author is an interpreter of the
facts he sees or hears: he tries to give voice to the wrath of
those who are oppressed by the institutions. The language is apparently simple but the poem is full of references through which the image of the London perceived by Blake emerges with great effectiveness and emotional intensity. In the opening lines of the poem, for example, the streets of London and the Thames are defined as chartered. One meaning of the corresponding noun "charter" in a monolingual dictionary is given as: "A law or official decision that seems to give someone the right to do something most people consider morally wrong" (concedere un privilegio). When connected with the Thames its meaning changes and the word qualifies a society where everyone or everything is on sale. The choice of that word helps the reader to understand the poet's attitude towards the things he is describing from the very first lines. The tone of the poem becomes increasingly violent as the text progresses; the use of figurative language, the repetition of words, phrases and sounds all contribute to stress the idea of a town where only death and despair are seen and heard. Blake seems to imply that the London a wanderer (a sensitive soul) perceives is the result of the well established dominion of reason which imposes itself on everybody. It goes without saying that the final message the reader can derive from the poem is the condemnation of a repressed society and the implicit need for spiritual revolution able to renew people and things. |