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The symbol of the “blacking church” (10) is further developed in the last lines of the stanza as the “hapless Soldier’s sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls” (11-12). The soldier unfortunate because the church, which is part of the state and therefore the Palace, is not listening to his sighs dies at battle (appals). It is an unnecessary death we can see because the soldier sighs “Runs in blood down Palace walls.” The church has again failed its members and community.

In the last stanza the church is again to blame for societies problems. The speaker “hear(s)” (13) young prostitutes swearing late into the night. The Harlots are young women out late at night sleeping with men, getting diseases, having children, and then not providing a good life for the children. The “youthful Harlot’s curse” (14) is interesting because “curse” (14) means the Harlot is swearing, but it also could mean something bringing or causing harm (Curse). The “Harlots curse” we learn are the problems she brings to her child. The Harlot who most likely has syphilis a sexually transmitted disease passes it on to the child and “Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,” (15). Syphilis among many other symptoms can cause in infected infants “crying sounds” and tearing (Syphilis). It is the disease and bad life that the Harlot passes on to her child.

The Harlot’s problems are connected with the church in the last line of the poem. Her life “blights with plagues the Marriage hearse” (16). This line although difficult to interpret is crucial to the poem and packed with meaning. A Marriage symbolizes beginnings and Marriage happens at church. A hearse symbolizes endings as in death. The “Marriage hearse” (16) works for an analogy of the Marriage of a Harlot infected with syphilis. The Harlot infected with the disease then infects her husband and they will both eventually die from the disease, as there were no medicines for syphilis during the eighteen hundreds.

This poem uses rhyme and repetition throughout to tell a story about life and the effects of the church on lives of the people of London. The “blackening church” (10) blackens the people of London, but by doing that it also blackens itself. The church does not allow the people of London to grow, it instead restrains them. The church does not help, protect, or look out for the health and welfare of its community as we saw with the children chimney-sweepers and soldier whose sighs went unheard. It seems that repetition is not only a literary device in this poem but also one of its themes. The church restraining its people, not helping them (the chimney-sweepers, the Harlots) causes a vicious cycle of deleterious and repetitive effects. The city of London is stuck in a downward spiraling cycle because the church is restraining and weakening the minds of its people instead of aiding and helping them.

“A Brief History of London.” Hartwick College. 13 March 2000

http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/history/hist4.htm

“Ban.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Banner” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

Blake, William. “London.” Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry. 4th Ed. John

Fredrick Nimms and David Mason. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 395-96

“Blight.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Chart.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Chartered.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Cry.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Forged” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Hapless” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Manacle” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Mark” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

Nims, John Fredrick and David Mason. Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry.

Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000

“Syphilis.” National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease. 30 March 2000

http://www.naid.nih.gov/factsheets/stdysph.htm

“Weakness.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

“Woe.” Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Home and Office Ed. 1998.

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