I seemed to have missed it by a day. Here is his great poem “London”. Did anyone ever write a better phrase than “mind-forg’d manacles”? And did any two words ever pack more of a punch than “marriage-hearse”?
I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
A 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-forg’d 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.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I ❤️ Blake.
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Ooh, that’s a fab poem! Have you seen the Blackwell’s Blake Festival?
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