This concept reveals the complexity of "psychological and physical damage" (Pagliaro), leaving one can to wonder, "whether it can be stopped and its root causes done away with ever" (Pagliaro). The answer to this question, and this state of mankind, is left up to the reader while Blake explores the inner and outer worlds through busy streets and a chartered river. Here we see entrepreneurs at work while the

The fear and the misery cannot be escaped. The image here is of a town brimming with people and yet they are alienated and oppressed. One of the most powerful literary techniques Blake employs in the poem is irony. In the beginning of the poem, after Blake introduces the notion of misery, he follows it with the notion of freedom. Those in the city are no doubt free but they

The effect enhances the tone and rhythm of the poem, which is quite differently experienced when reading from print. Reading the poem visually also assists with content and meaning. Listening to Stallworthy is much more of a purely musical experience, a lot like listening to a song but ignoring the lyrics. The lyrics and the vocal character of the singer are two separate things. Likewise, Blake's words and how the

In "London," the most noticeable languages are how he uses repetition, connotation as well as multiple meanings of words. His work choice alone indicates that Blake never picked any words with good connotations which are always negative, for example he uses the word harlot instead of something like courtesan, and plagues instead of sickness (Blake, 2013). Conversely, repetition was significant in revealing the real meaning of his poem. For example

nineteenth century architecture of Saint Pancras Station from the vantage of the early twenty-first century, the seeming proud grandeur of the design can blind us to the strange and difficult reception that this architecture had on contemporary critics. In the 1870s, the legendary Victorian art critic John Ruskin is reported to have remarked "At Paddington station I felt as if in hell" (Pearce 63). Presumably Ruskin was alluding to

As night looms, he hears "How the youthful Harlot's curse/Blasts the new-born Infant's tear, / And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse" (14-6). Even the populations' state of mind is represented with negative imagery. It is also important to note that the poet senses weariness when looks at the townspeople and that it stems from "mind-forged manacles" (8). This line makes it known that there is suffering but it