Role of Language in William Blake\'s London
The Role of Language in William Blake's "London"William Blake's poem "London" is a comment on the quality of life in London, England during the late eighteenth century. Blake's descriptive language sets the mood and gives the reader a picture of London during this time period. He makes references to specific places and institutions associated with the city. Blake uses the repetition and double meaning of words to call attention to the drastic condition of London and its citizens. In Blake's "London" one of the most noticeable aspects of the language is his use of repetition. In addition to repetition, the connotation and multiple meanings of words, particularly the repeated words, are essential in revealing the meaning of this poem. In lines one and two "I wander through each chartered street, / Near where the chartered Thames does flow," (23) the word chartered is repeated. By repeating this word, Blake forces the reader to notice it and consider its implications. Chartered can have more than one meaning, thus it is important to consider if this has something to do with the repetition of the word. Chartered can refer to a grant or guarantee of rights or privileges and it can also mean a lease or contract for the purposes o
Through the first three stanzas, Blake has been somewhat elusive with the meaning and connotations of his words. The word pairs "harlot" and "infant" and "marriage" and "hearse" have distinctly opposite symbolism. A ban can be a prohibition of something. Blake's description of the Church as blackening is another example of a word with a double meaning. Here Blake is suggesting that by using the services of the chimney-sweepers, the Church is just as responsible for the cries of these children as the industries causing the pollution and the government that is allowing it to go on. He ends with the poem with the line "And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. It is through his use of language Blake gets the reader to look more closely at what he is saying about London. The church is physically becoming blackened due to the soot and pollution, but it is also blackening itself with corruption. It is used both as a verb then as a noun. Is Blake saying that the general population of London has been guaranteed certain amount of freedom in the city, or have they merely been given a more constrictive "lease" to certain privileges associated with citizenship? In order to determine whether Blake intended the audience to interpret one or both meanings for the word, we must look at the entire poem and the connotations of other words he chose. His language has become much more vivid. The chimney-sweepers clean the churches just as they do other buildings in the city. The narrator is using the word mark to indicate that the despair they feel is so strong that it can be seen in their faces. It is placed in this stanza primarily for emphasis and also helps the poem gain a certain amount of rhythm. Where the speaker marks particular aspects of the people he sees, he is noticing these things.
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