Essay on Poems by Willliam Blake - 2364 Words

Poems by William Blake In this essay I will be examining the way 5 poems by William Blake convey his attitudes towards the society he lived in. William Blake was born on the 28th of November 1757, and then died on the 12th of August 1827. He spent most of his life living in London, except from 1800 to 1803 where he lived in a cottage in Felpham, a seaside village in Sussex. When Blake was almost 25 he married Catherine Bouchier. They had no children but were married for almost 45 years. In 1784, a year after he published his first collection of poems, Blake set up an engraving business, prior to this he was an apprentice engraver making plates where pictures for books were printed. Blake?s most famous collections of poems†¦show more content†¦The ?mind-forg?d manacles? puts across the idea that man is born free, but the manacles are forged by the mind. This hints that there are still ways to break free from the manacles, to go back to the way everything used to be, the way it was dictated by the greatest authority of all. The first line of the poem expresses this beautifully by saying ?I wander thro? each charter?d street?, this shows the lack of freedom. Some of the more powerful people were granted control of some of London?s streets and even parts of the river. In today?s terms having chartered streets that you have to pay to walk down is a very odd concept. Blake writes, ?Near where the charter?d Thames does flow?, the river itself is an essence of freedom, it cannot be controlled by the passing law or by any authority, attempting to charter such a symbol of free will and unity is surely a mistake. Blake then remarks on the ?weakness? and ?woe? in every person, whether adults or infants (Stanza 2). In ?London? Blake gives three influential examples of ?weakness? and ?woe?, these start with the ?chimney-sweep?. This is trying to show that the church is becoming polluted; once a pure and holy place is now literally ?black?ning? with smoke from the chimneys. This metaphorically says that the church (which should be helping the poor) is blackened with shame for its failure to give that help. The next image is the