Mike Munoz

 Born in 1757  Son of a Hosier (sold gloves, stockings, haberdashery)  Shortly attend conventional school  Later withdrew and was trained in drawing painting and engraving  Saw mystical visions and as a child once “screamed when he saw God put his head to the window“ (Richardson 1).

 Worked as an artist and engraver  Wrote poems inside his illuminated books  Printed illuminated books as Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and For Children: The Gates of Paradise  Died known as a painter and engraver.  Now recognized as one of the great Romantic poet alongside Wordsworth.

 The poem was written in 1794  American Revolution ended about a decade before  French Revolution in progress  England increases the control of people with restricting laws and bans  Industrial Revolution booming

 Loss of innocence: 1. Children 2. Nature 3. Marriage/love  Corruption of institutions 1. Government: restricting free thought 2. Church

 “London” Text  I wander through each chartered street,  Near where the chartered Thames does flow,  And mark in every face I meet  Marks of weakness, marks of woe.  In every cry of every man,  In every infant's cry of fear,  In every voice, in every ban,  The mind-forged manacles I hear.  Explanation  “Charter” Each street Is not owned by the people  Even the harbor  Each face I see is tired and weary  The weariness is seen in every aspect of life.  The peoples minds are being restricted

 “London” Text  How the chimney-sweeper's cry  Every blackening church appalls;  And the hapless soldier's sigh  Runs in blood down palace walls.  But most through midnight streets I hear  How the youthful harlot's curse  Blasts the newborn infant's tear,  And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.  Explanation  Child laborers suffer  The church is becoming corrupt, nature is becoming corrupt  Workers are complaining  Prostitutes solicit the street  “Curse”: STD, bartering between customers  “Marriage Hearse”: sanctity of marriage is dead, STD causes death

 I wander through each chartered street,  Near where the chartered Thames does flow,  And mark in every face I meet  Marks of weakness, marks of woe.  In every cry of every man,  In every infant's cry of fear,  In every voice, in every ban,  The mind-forged manacles I hear.  How the chimney-sweeper's cry  Every blackening church appalls;  And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace walls.  But most through midnight streets I hear  How the youthful harlot's curse Blasts the newborn infant's tear,  And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. Lyrical Poem ABAB Rhyme scheme Imagery Anaphora Themes: London is being oppressed by multiple institutions, loss of innocence

 Blake, William. “London.” Songs of Innocence and Experience. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Print.  Google Images  O'Keeffe, Bernard. "'London' and 'Composed upon Westminster Bridge': Bernard O'Keeffe compares and contextualises Blake's and Wordsworth's poems to illuminate aspects of writing from the Romantic era." The English Review 17.1 (2006): 21+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 May  Reinhart, Charles. "William Blake." British Romantic Poets, : First Series. Ed. John R. Greenfield. Detroit: Gale Research, Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 93. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 May  Richardson, Alan. "William Blake." British Children's Writers, Ed. Meena Khorana. Detroit: Gale Research, Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 May 