London: (From Songs of Experience)

Author: William Blake  | Date: 1794

LONDON

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,

Near where the charter’d 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-forg’d manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry

Every black’ning church appalls;

And the hapless Soldier’s sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls.

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlot’s curse

Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.

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Chicago: William Blake, London: (From Songs of Experience) Original Sources, accessed April 19, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2MGXNG2TSLLUMET.

MLA: Blake, William. London: (From Songs of Experience), Original Sources. 19 Apr. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2MGXNG2TSLLUMET.

Harvard: Blake, W, London: (From Songs of Experience). Original Sources, retrieved 19 April 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2MGXNG2TSLLUMET.