"London"

letteratura inglese

London

London is one of the most powerful description of the industrial towns to be found in literature. It's one of Blake's greatest poems, this poem shows the suffering brought by the industrial revolution and it belongs to the "Songs of 535e49f experience". The passage from the innocence to the experience is the passage from a simple world to a deceptive one. So, if in the "Songs of innocence" Blake seems the poet of childhood, in the "Songs of experience" he become the terrible critic of the contemporaneous world. His polemic is about two themes: the first one is the politic one, a politic attack towards an oppressive society where the exploitation is one of the main problems, here we can see a reference mark towards the Industrial Revolution against which he celebrates French and American Revolutions. The other theme is moral and religious one, a criticism to a Church which became an instrument of spiritual oppression because of its dualism about soul and body, its moral code against instincts, its idea of a mysterious and cruel God typical of Old Testament instead of a merciful God typical of the New Testament.

Vago lungo ogni strada privilegiata

Vicino a dove scorre il privilegiato Tamigi,

E vedo in ogni faccia che incontro

Segni di debolezza, segni di dolore.

In ogni grido di ogni uomo,

In ogni grido infantile di paura,

In ogni voce , in ogni proibizione,

Sento le catene forgiate dalla mente.

Come il grido dello spazzacamino

Colpisce ogni chiesa che diventa scura,

E il sospiro del misero soldato

Scende come sangue gił dalle mura del palazzo.

Ma sento soprattutto nelle strade a mezzanotte

Come la maledizione della giovane prostituta

Distrugge le lacrime del bambino appena nato,

E copre di disastri il carro delle nozze.