“Poetry,” said Robert Frost, “is a way of taking life by the throat.” Not being equipped with today's media and technology, poets of the post-1770 era often approached their poetry in this way. They took advantage of free speech and used poetry to express their views and opinions on social and personal issues, which was done most effectively through the use of vibrant language. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay “London” by William Blake is one such example of a poet who uses aggressive language to express his dissatisfaction with the oppression and alienation evident in his days. Blake responds to these social inequalities by representing what many have called a form of “social protest” against the political and economic depression that Blake believed had gripped London at the time. Blake wishes to use poetry to show his disdain for the “charter'd” city of London, and he does this effectively through the use of subtle word choices, which leave an impact on the reader. He uses repetition and words with double meanings to explain the terrible conditions in the city of London. An example would be the repetitive use of “charter'd” in the poem, which highlights how Blake believed the city had been forced to submit to an organized structure. Even the Thames and the streets had not been free from this oppression, having been diverted from their natural course to conform to the oppressive administration. According to William Blake, the city of London had been, as one critic put it, “mapped, licensed, controlled and stifled by commerce.” While describing the plight of the common man, evident in the “marks of weakness, marks of pain” that scar their faces, Blake again uses the repetition of the words “mark” and “every”, effectively portraying the atmosphere of desperation and misery. . The repetition of “every” may also suggest that Londoners are not the only ones suffering, that the struggle against submission to oppression is universal. Likewise, Blake's use of the condemnatory word “black'ning” to describe the Church could also be said to have had a double meaning. Written during the time of the Industrial Revolution, when London was transforming from an agricultural to an urbanized society, it can be assumed that the Church was physically covered in soot due to the spread of industry. However, it is difficult not to also grasp the figurative meaning: Blake argues that the Church had shirked responsibility for the deaths of young chimney sweeps who conveniently entered chimneys but rarely came out. Blake's disgust at the economically exploited life of a young chimney sweep is further highlighted in his poem "The Chimney Sweep". In addition to demonstrating Blake's condemnation of the exploitation of the lives of the poor and young for the sake of a prosperous economy, his choice of “black'ning” is also used to express the corruption he perceived in the institutionalized Church. What is interesting to note in this stanza is how Blake has transformed the oppressors (religion and the monarchy) into cold, dark inanimate buildings (the church and the palace), while the oppressed are real people, taking their last breaths beneath form of an “unfortunate sigh” and a “shout”. Blake sympathizes with the soldiers' cruel fate, and the mention of "blood down the Palace walls" implies that the Palace has blood on its hands, the result of being responsible for the deaths of too many soldiers. One of the things that stands out.”