"London" by William Blake (poetry reading)

The repetition of words gives this poem a peculiar strength. You can hear his disgust at the state of London.
Churches were blackened by soot and smog, but the chimney sweepers were children, abused and short-lived. Prostitution was rife in London and continued long after Blake's death. It wasn't until 1864 that the Contagious Diseases Act was passed, giving power to the police to inspect prostitutes and detain them if they had venereal disease - which was what blighted wives and babies.
The first illustration of part of The Harlot's Progress by Hogarth. I'm not sure about the second.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Longon
• harlot
• prostitute
• chimney
• sweeper
• William
• Blake

[cheapfeet]

Great voice for Blake. You say 'blights' for 'blasts' in the second last verse . . .

[SpokenVerse]

@cheapfeet You get a gold star for observation. As my old maths teacher used to say to cover such lapses, "It's to see if you're paying attention".

[Yvyne]

There are so many faces of London... it's always interesting how people percieve different aspects of it.

[SpokenVerse]

We have tried to fix the faults Blake pointed out 200 years ago.

We washed the soot from the churches and blood from the palace walls. Boys who sweep chimneys now get shoes and bigger brushes. The harlots have to learn etiquette. We run TV ads to warn people about sexually transmitted diseases.

Actually, though, it's much the same.

[baum42]

cool u gave this to swallow the sun :) made me goose bumps!

[fernandpena]

Hi I'm a French "Blake lover" what do you think of my work.

Look on my page and on my site: lezarts.info

[KiddShaolin]

Good voice for it. Thanks.

[ooshkka]

the verve used a couple of verses of this poem in theri song HISTORY

[S2Cents]

@SpokenVerse The river isn't reeking and on fire. Climate control and safe access to food are both common. Don't get hung for stealing. Cheers

[animals68]

prelims coming up and have to compare this and composed upon westminster bridge for english, very hard

[yastunt]

@SpokenVerse I have to do a dangerously hard essay on this poem!

[DemMedHornene]

Rather amusing I must admit. Though I find "I heard an Angel" one of the best poems made by William Blake.