In his poem, “London,” William Blake presents a horrifying city-scene in which the faces and cries of its inhabitants testify to the sadness and fear rampant in this urban environment. The first stanza sets up Blake’s vision of a planned (“charter’d” [2, 3]) city in decay. Then, the psychological impact of “mind-forg’d manacles” (9), as an image in the second stanza, hits the reader hard, signifying the self-bondage of the city’s people. In the third stanza, the cries of the chimney-sweeps and sighs of the soldiers cover the city with soot and blood. These vivid images most likely serve as symbols of the corruption and debauchery of the church and state in the London of Blake’s time. The final stanza alludes to the corruption of childhood innocence (“Blasts the new born Infants tear” [16]) and the institution of marriage (“plagues the Marriage hearse” [17]) by prostitution and venereal disease (“youthful Harlots curse” [15]). Blake’s frequent repetition of words (such as “charter’d” [2, 3] and “mark” [4, 5]) and phrases (such as “In every” [6, 7, 8]) contribute to the oppressive catalogue of depressing urban images.

The actual images that accompany this poem (link here) are mysterious and somewhat incongruous with the text. In the larger image, a child leads an old man into a room or building of some sort. Some of the versions of the images are colored darker and appear more foreboding than others. Does this image represent the need for youthful innocence to take care of the dying city, represented as the old man? Is the child leading the old man to his death? It’s difficult to say for sure, but the image definitely personalizes the images in the text. What are these two individuals doing in such a horrible place? The smaller image is of a child warming himself by a fire. Again, this image is puzzling. Does it represent the poet indulging in his poetic creation of a “burning,” damned city? Has the old man (as city) been cremated? My speculations could go on and on. The images do add to the potential meanings of the poem, though, and offer a different perspective than the words alone. In this way, the archived images of Blake’s illustrated poem do change how we read and lead the reader/viewer to question Blake’s intentions for the images and poem. Without the images, the text would be less mysterious and more limited in its range of meanings and allegorical significance.