London is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Experience in 1794. It is one of the few poems in Songs of Experience which does not have a corresponding poem in Songs of Innocence.

Lyrics（英漢）

倫敦
——王居良譯
我走過每條獨占的街道，
排拘在獨占的泰晤士河邊，
我看見每個過往的行人
有一張衰弱、痛苦的臉。
每個人的每聲呼喊，
每個鑒孩害怕的號叫，
每句話，每條禁令，
都響著心靈鑄成的鐐銬。
多少掃煙肉孩子的喊叫，
震驚了每座熏黑的教堂;
不幸士兵的長嘆
像鮮血流下了宮墻。
最怕是深夜的街頭
又聽年輕妓女的沮咒!
它駭住了初生兒的眼淚，
又帶來疽疫，使婚車變成靈樞。

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered 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-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

Context

    The poet William Blake was a poet and artist who specialised in illuminated texts, often of a religious nature. He rejected established religion for various reasons. One of the main ones was the failure of the established Church to help children in London who were forced to work. Blake lived and worked in the capital, so was arguably well placed to write clearly about the conditions people who lived there faced.

    Songs of Innocence and of Experience Published in 1794, this collection of poems, fully illustrated and originally hand-printed by Blake, aimed to show the "Two Contrary States of the Human Soul". The Songs of Innocence section contains poems which are positive in tone and celebrate love, childhood and nature. The Songs of Experience poems are obviously intended to provide a contrast, and illustrate the effects of modern life on people and nature. Dangerous industrial conditions, child labour, prostitution and poverty are just some of the topics Blake explores. The French Revolution In 1789, the French people revolted against the monarchy and aristocracy, using violence and murder to overthrow those in power. Many saw the French Revolution as inspirational - a model for how ordinary, disadvantaged people could seize power. Blake alludes to the revolution in London, arguably suggesting that the experience of living there could encourage a revolution on the streets of the capital.

Analysis：

   As with most of Blake's poetry, there are several critical interpretations of London. The most common interpretation, favored by critics such as Camille Paglia and E.P. Thompson, holds that London is primarily a social protest. A less frequently held view is that of Harold Bloom; that London primarily is Blake's response to the tradition of Biblical prophecy.

   The use of the word 'Chartered' is ambiguous. It may express the political and economic control that Blake considered London to be enduring at the time of his writing. Blake's friend Thomas Paine had criticised the granting of Royal Charters to control trade as a form of class oppression. However, 'chartered' could also mean 'freighted', and may refer to the busy or overburdened streets and river, or to the licenced trade carried on within them.

   In Blake's notebook, the word 'chartered' originally read, 'dirty'.

   In Thompson's view, Blake was an unorthodox Christian of the dissenting tradition, who felt that the state was abandoning those in need. He was heavily influenced by mystical groups. The poem reflects Blake's extreme disillusionment with the suffering he saw in London.

   The reference to a harlot blighting the 'marriage hearse' with 'plague' is usually understood to refer to the spread of venereal disease in the city, passed by a prostitute to a man and thence his bride, so that marriage can become a sentence of death.

   The poem was published during the upheavals of the French Revolution, and the city of London was suffering political and social unrest, due to the marked social and working inequalities of the time. An understandably nervous government had responded by introducing restrictions on the freedom of speech and the mobilisation of foreign mercenaries.

   The City of London was a town that was shackled to landlords and owners that controlled and demeaned the majority of the lower and middle classes.Within the poem that bears the city's name, Blake describes 18th century London as a conurbation filled with people who understood, with depressing wisdom, both the hopelessness and misery of their situation.

“最強有力的短詩” ——威廉·布萊克的“倫敦”

威廉·布萊克是英國十八世紀后期至十九世紀初著名的進步詩人和版畫家，英國浪漫主義詩歌的先驅。他不滿足于蒲柏為代表的古典主義詩歌傳統，而以英國伊麗莎白時期和十六世紀抒情小詩及十八世紀田園詩為楷模，反理性而重情感，在形式和技巧方面意求新。他的詩文字樸實，想象瑰麗，意象豐富，形象鮮明，情感深厚真摯，具有深刻的民主思想。

布萊克生于倫敦一個賣內衣雜貨的小商人家庭，因家境貧賽，沒有受過正規教育。幼年時代，他做了一個雕版家的學徒，學習繪畫和雕版。后來他就靠這兩門手藝，一生過著小手工藝人的清苦生活。這種生活使他親身體會到資本主義給小生產者帶來的痛苦，并為他接近人民，認識社會的黑暗提供了方便。

布萊克生活在美國獨立革命和法國大革命相繼震撼世界的年代，英國當局正瘋狂地迫害和逮捕國內進步人士。布萊克曾親自參加過英國的民主斗爭，并在斗爭中經受了鍛煉。革命的歲月和戰斗的經歷，為他的詩歌創作奠定了一定的基礎。

“倫敦”一詩寫于1893年左右。詩中描繪了詩人在夜幕下帶著痛苦的沉思，徘徊在倫敦街頭的所見所聞，從而為讀者展示了一幅在恐怖統治下的人民萬般困苦的生活畫面。

第一節里，詩人心情憂郁地漫步在倫敦街頭，因為這里的每一條街道都被獨占了，即便是泰晤士河。大公司，大商人從國王處獲得了獨占權，使他們得以更為便利地謀取資本主義的高額利潤。倫敦的居民就象這些被劃定了的街道和河流，毫無自由可言。所以詩人處處看到的都是疲憊不堪、痛苦衰弱的面孔。 為了強調這是每個平民都無法逃避的共 同命運，在第二節里詩人一連用了五個“每個”，而且用了一系列平行的結構短語，強調
人們是如此的痛苦。這痛苦不僅是來自肉體上，而更是來自心靈和思想上的壓迫。每一條禁令都是政府強加給人民的殘酷的精神枷鎖。
第三節具體地運用一連串形象來深化上述的不自由和受壓迫。誰又忍心聽掃煙囪的叫賣聲呢?掃煙囪在倫敦當時是 一種特殊的職業，遍布城市的高高聳立的煙囪用久了就需要雇人清掃里面的煤灰。但煙囪太窄，只能雇傭身體瘦小、尚未成年的兒童來干。窮苦人家的孩子就這樣必須忍受著瞎眼、跌傷和窒息的痛苦，為著有錢人的溫暖和利潤而掃!掃!掃!“孩子們的喊叫，震驚了每座熏黑的教堂。”“熏黑”從字面上可以理解為英國是一個多煙塵、多霧的國家，資本主義經濟的迅速發展，更加劇了城市的污染，因此教堂受到長期的污染，原本雪白的墻面被熏黑了。但是這里具有象征的意義，它更指教會的被站污、襲讀了的精神。教會本應保護這些上帝的小羔羊，但是他們與政府為伍，在思想上維護殘害窮孩子的社會。況且，他們自己教堂的煙囪就是由那些可憐的窮孩子們打掃的。掃煙囪孩子們的聲嘶力竭的叫喊， 是對統治人類精神的教會的有力控述和譴責，又怎能不使他們顫抖、害怕呢?屋外凄慘 的叫賣聲與室內牧師的虔誠祈禱形成了諷刺性的對照。流離失所的士兵為朝延賣命，可是卻得不到應有的待遇，于是不幸士兵的長嘆似乎化作了殷紅的鮮血，流下了王宮的墻壁，控述了統治階級的罪惡，也共同訴說了窮苦人民的悲慘境遇。這里詩人將“嘆息”和“鮮血”兩者具有不同屬性的事物聯結在一起，取得了異常沉痛的效果。最后一節里的內容最為深刻，詩人的譴責也最為激越和嚴厲。詩人最怕聽到的是深夜里“年輕妓女的詛咒”，因為這詛咒是如此充滿恨的力量，會“駭住初生嬰兒的眼淚”，還會“帶來瘟疫，使婚車變成靈謳”。年輕的妓女是全體窮苦人民在資本主義商業城市所遭受的全部凌辱的象征。她們年輕的肉體被凌辱、被摧殘，精神受到打擊和折磨。她們不但自己得了花柳病(詩中的瘟疫)，還影響到下一代，孩子將會是先天性的眼瞎。她們不能夠有幸福的婚姻，因為喜慶的婚車不久即會變成送葬的靈車。這樣的結局又怎么能讓她們不詛咒命運、詛咒婚姻、詛咒這個給人民帶
來深重災難的社會啊!
   英詩以抑揚格四音步寫成，韻尾呈ab ab cd cd ef ef dg dg形式。此外，加上頭韻、重復等修辭手法的運用，全詩具有強烈的音樂節奏感，極好地渲染和烘托了主題。
   短短十六行詩，文字簡潔、樸素，但是生動、高昂地表現了詩人深刻的思想感情，形象地道出了那個處在法國革命和產業革命激蕩里的英國社會的全部災難，有力地抨擊了社會的經濟、政治、宗教和家庭生活的黑暗面，體現了詩人對貧苦人民的無限同情。一首短詩，容量竟如此巨大，含義如此豐富、含蓄，令人深思，不愧被西方評論界譽為“最強有力的短詩”。

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