Hello everyone.

It's great to see you today.

Welcome to your lesson on understanding the poem, "London." I'm Miss Sutherland, and I'll be teaching you today.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how Blake presents power in society in 18th century London.

Our five keywords for today's lesson are oppression.

Oppression is when people are governed in an unfair, cruel way.

Corruption.

Corruption is illegal, immoral behaviour by those in power.

Chartered refers to land that was once held in common, but is now privately owned and controlled.

Complicit means involved in immoral activity.

And manacles.

Manacles is another word for handcuffs.

It's an object to use to restrain prisoners.

I'll give you a moment to note down any of those keywords.

Pause the video, and take a note down.

Excellent.

In our first learning cycle today, we are going to understand how oppression is presented in the poem, "London." In our second learning cycle, we're going to move on to look at how corruption is presented.

In our second learning cycle, we'll explore how how corruption is presented in the poem, "London." So let's start off by understanding how oppression is presented in the poem, "London." Let's first look at the poet, William Blake.

William Blake, he was born in 1757, and he died in 1827.

He wrote a poetry collection called "Songs of Innocence and of Experience." The "Songs of Innocence" explore idyllic childhood hope and humanity in its natural state, whereas the "Songs of Experience" explore corruption, oppression, and lament how the human experience ruins innocence.

Here are the first two stanzas of the poem, "London." Let's read it together.

"I wander thro' each charter'd street, near where the charter'd 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-forg'd manacles I hear." Now based on that short snippet of the poem, "London," I want you to think about which side of the poetry collection it belongs to.

So does it refer, so does it belong to Blake's "Songs of Innocence," or does it belong to Blake's "Songs of Experience?" Make sure you justify your answer.

Pause the video, and discuss.

"London" actually belongs to the "Songs of Experience." It explores oppression and corruption.

This is suggested by the use of the phrase, "Marks of weakness, marks of woe," and the reference to manacles and bans.

We can see here how Blake is referring to how experience can ruin the hopes and the idyllic notion of childhood by introducing people to corruption and oppression.

Let's read these two standards once more.

"I wonder for each charter'd street, near where the charter'd 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-forg'd manacles I hear." Discuss these five questions with your partner.

What does the speaker see on his walk? What does he hit on hear walk? What does forged mean? Where are the manacles? And what is the tone of this section? Pause the video, and discuss those questions.

Now, as the speaker wanders through the streets, he sees many faces, and in every face he sees weakness and woe, so it means he sees weakness and misery in every face that he comes across on his walk.

What does he hear on his walk? You may have said he can hear crying of men, infants crying, voices, and somehow he's hearing within those voices, mind-forged manacles.

Now we have to explore what exactly that means.

Now, forged means made or produced.

So what Blake is saying here then is that these manacles are produced by the mind, and he can hear those manacles produced by the mind in every single voice of man.

That can be quite hard to get our head around.

Let's go onto the next question to help us really break that down once more.

So question number four was where are the manacles? Remember, manacles are handcuffs, or things used to restrain people, and Blake's saying that these handcuffs are in the mind, these manacles are in the mind.

In fact, these, these handcuffs, these manacles, were created or forged by the mind.

That's really interesting.

He's suggesting perhaps that people create their own oppression or restriction.

People are not free, and it's because of their own restrictions they place on themselves through their belief system perhaps, maybe that's why he's saying that the manacles are within the mind.

Lastly is what is the tone of this section? You could have said a variety of things here.

To me, this part of the poem strikes me as having a melancholy, sombre tone, because what jumps out to me is the misery In this section.

Let's check your understanding of what we've just discussed.

What themes did "The Songs of," what themes did the "Songs of Experience" explore? Innocence, oppression, corruption, or hope? There may be more than one correct answer here.

Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said the "Songs of Experience explored oppression and corruption, so that means the "Songs of Experience" explored lack of freedom, explored cruel leadership, and explored abuse of power too.

That might give us a clue about what kind of things we're going to see in the poem, "London." How are the people oppressed in the poem, "London?" So based on what we just read those first two stanzas, how can we see the theme of depression already coming through? Pause the video, and have a think.

Well done if you said, the people of London, according to Blake, seem oppressed because their own beliefs trap them.

And we see that through the use of Blake's quotes, mind-forged manacles.

Remember, he is saying that people are creating oppression in their own mind through their own belief system, and the way they choose to view things in society.

Another question, which word shows how nature was controlled and restricted? Pause the video and answer that question, now.

The word, chartered, shows how nature was controlled and restricted.

Remember we said chartered means something that was previously owned commonly, so a lot of people had ownership over it, and then it became privately owned and controlled, meaning one or two people in society have rights over that land, and the River Thames is a part of nature.

So Blake is trying to suggest that in 18th century London, people tried to exert control over nature.

I now want you to annotate the answers to the questions on stanza one and two to explore how Blake shows oppression in London.

Here are your questions to answer as annotations.

How are the streets and river described? What does it suggest? What does the word, marks, suggest about the people's weakness and woe? How many times is the word, every, repeated, for both stanzas, and what does it suggest? And what is Blake suggesting if manacles are mind-forged in the people's heads.

Pause the video, and answer those annotation questions now.

Let's go through some possible ideas.

The streets and river are described as chartered, meaning they are owned, regulated and controlled.

Blake may be criticising or showing contempt for the fact that even nature is not free.

Remember, as a romantic poet, Blake very much respected, admired nature, and would've seen it as a powerful presence.

We can assume that he would be very critical of the fact that nature is being controlled.

The word, marks, suggests that the suffering is etched into people's faces.

It shows the permanence of the oppression, because marks are hard to get rid of.

They're like stains.

So it's suggesting that people cannot get rid of this suffering.

They cannot break free of this oppression.

It's a permanent feature within their faces and their bodies.

Next, the word, every, is repeated six times throughout these two stanzas, this is showing possibly how widespread and inescapable the oppression is.

It shows that no one is exempt from this suffering.

It affects every man, every infant, every voice.

And lastly, mind-forged manacles, Blake suggests people are trapped mentally by their own beliefs, perhaps imposed on them by authority.

Remember, the reason we know that is because the manacles are not physical here, he's using the word manacles in a metaphorical sense, he's saying that metaphorically, people's minds are handcuffed and they created those handcuffs via their faulty or debilitating belief systems. Well done if you said any of that, and of course your own ideas are always welcome.

Let's move on to our second learning cycle today where we'll explore how corruption is shown in the poem, "London." So here are the final two stanzas of the poem, "London." Let's read them.

"How the chimney-sweeper's cry every black'ning church appals, and the hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls.

But most thro' midnight streets I hear how the youthful harlot's curse blast the new-born infant's tear and blights with plagues the marriage hearse." Now to understand this section, we need to read a bit about the context.

This poem was written between 1789 and to 1794 during the Industrial Revolution.

Now discuss, what do you remember about London during the Industrial Revolution? Pause the video, and discuss.

Now, the Industrial Revolution meant oppressive factories and an extremely polluted city.

Poverty, child labour and prostitution were prevalent.

The wealthy profited from mass production whilst the working class were exploited.

So we could say that whilst the Industrial Revolution had many benefits, it also led to a lot of inequality in society, and Blake may be addressing this in these two stanzas here.

As well as the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution also took place around the time of Blake's writing.

The French Revolution saw the people of France overthrow their king.

The revolution show how the oppressed could reclaim power from the privileged.

Authority figures and leaders across Europe feared the revolution would spread, resulting in more control being exerted over the people.

And it is believed that "London" shows support for the principles of the French Revolution as Blake criticises oppressive institutions and shows sympathy for the people.

I'll give you a moment to take that information in.

Pause the video, and have a quick read.

Now, it's time to check your understanding of what we've just learned about the French Revolution.

So what was the French Revolution? Pause the video and answer that question.

The French Revolution was a time where the people overthrew the monarchy in France.

It is also important to consider how William Blake was a romantic poet much like Percy Shelley.

Discuss now what you remember about romantic literature.

Pause the video and have a think.

You may have said romantic literature explored the aura of nature, critique of progress, rejection of powerful institutions, break from convention, a celebration of the individual, fascination with the past, and an emphasis on emotion.

As a romantic poet, Blake was an advocate for social equality,' and was critical of institutions that did not use their power for good, such as the church, monarchy, and government.

So we can see a similarity between the two romantic poets, Shelley and Blake, because Shelley also showed how he rejected powerful institutions in his poem, "Ozymandias." So let's explore exactly how Blake shows corruption and the abuse of power in this poem, it is assumed that appals here means shames, so "How the chimney-sweeper's cry every black'ning church appals." So essentially the chimney-sweeper's cry shames the church.

What is Blake trying to say about the church here? Pause the video and discuss.

You may have said that Blake is perhaps blaming the church for the cries of the chimney-sweepers.

Remember chimney sweepers were young children who cleaned chimneys, and this was an example of child labour, so perhaps Blake is blaming child labour, and the suffering associated with it on the church, and we can see there that there's an imagery of corruption within the institution of the church, because the church is said to be blackening.

In this section, "And the hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls," Blake uses a metaphor.

If the blood of the soldiers is metaphorically on the palace walls, what institution do you think Blake is attacking, and on what grounds is he attacking it? Pause the video, and discuss that question now.

The palace walls may be symbolic of the monarchy.

So Blake may be attacking the monarchy, because under their rule and instruction, young men join the army and die for causes that carry no meaning.

Blake opposed the monarchy, and the power they exerted over civilians.

So again, Blake may be blaming the deaths of the soldiers on the monarchy, and saying how the the lives of those soldiers are wasted.

Let's continue reading, "But most thro' midnight streets.

I hear how the youthful harlot's curse blast the newborn infant's tear and blights with plagues the marriage hearse." Blake here references how society's ills, for example poverty, force young women into prostitution.

A harlot is a prostitute.

Innocent babies are then born into this corrupt society that does nothing to address poverty.

Blake goes on to say that the harlot's curse plagues the marriage hearse.

A hearse is a funeral car.

What could Blake be saying about prostitution and marriage? Discuss that with your partner now.

Blake could be pointing out that many men sought prostitutes and therefore the institution of marriage is ruined due to infidelity.

Because if a married man seeks a prostitute, he's therefore cheating on his wife.

So that could ruin the sanctity of the marriage.

The imagery of death and plague with marriage also highlights that many deaths occurred due to diseases associated with prostitution.

It's important to note that Blake thought marriage was an oppressive institution restricting natural passion and emotion.

According to Blake, widespread prostitution may reflect that human passion and emotion, for example, sexual desire, prevail, making the religious institution of marriage, which restricts people's natural drives, futile.

So essentially Blake is saying that the fact married men sought prostitutes proves essentially that their sexual desire overrides the religious conventions associated with marriage that could be said to restrict these natural human drives.

I now want you to check your understanding of how corruption is explored in the poem.

There are three ideas on the screen here.

Let's read through them.

The first one is that Blake thought the church was hypocritical, advocating to protect the vulnerable, but being complicit in their exploitation.

The next idea is that Blake thought the monarchy was complicit in the unnecessary deaths of soldiers.

The final idea is that Blake reflects on how society is an endless cycle of corruption.

Young women are forced into prostitution, and babies are born into a broken world.

So there you have three ideas about corruption within the poem.

Your job is to match each idea with the appropriate quote which reflects this.

Pause the video and match the idea to the supporting quotes.

Let's go through some possible answers.

The first one, "Blake thought the church was hypocritical advocating to protect the vulnerable but being complicit in their exploitation," that matches with how the, "How the chimney-sweeper's cry, every black'ning church appals." Remember chimney sweepers were children, so the church had a duty to protect the vulnerable, the innocent children, but instead, Blake suggests that the church is complicit in the exploitation of these children, because the church does not do anything about the child labour.

The next one is that "Blake thought the monarchy was complicit in the unnecessary deaths of soldiers," and we see that in the quotes, "And the hapless soldiers' sigh runs in blood down palace walls." Remember, palace walls is a symbol of the monarchy.

The last one, "Blake reflects on how society is an endless cycle of corruption.

Young women are forced into prostitution, and babies are born into a broken world." That's shown in the quote, "How the youthful harlot's curse blasts the newborn infant's tear." Well done if you've got those rights.

Your final task today is to write about how Blake shows corruption in his poem, "London." Ensure you use knowledge of Blake's views to introduce a specific idea, which institutions did he feel were corrupt, and how exactly.

Include brief quotes from the poem to illustrate corruption, and use tentative language to suggest what Blake's overall message was.

Here are some sentence starters to help you.

"Blake was critical of, as he felt that," "This is illustrated in the poem by," and "Perhaps Blake was trying to." Pause video and get writing.

Excellent effort there.

Corruption is a really tricky idea to get your head around and the fact you've applied it to a brand new poem speaks volumes.

Let's look at Jacob's response.

Jacob wrote, "Blake felt that society was corrupt.

He shows this when he mentions that the 'Hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls.

' This suggests that the monarchy are somewhat to blame for the deaths of soldiers.

Blake may have been criticising the monarchy's use of civilians in war for meaningless causes resulting in the unnecessary loss of innocent lives." Let's reflect on Jacob's response.

Give Jacob a What Went Well and Even Better If using the checklist.

Pause the video, and give Jacob some feedback now.

What Jacob did well was that he included brief quotes from the poem to illustrate corruption.

He also used tentative language to suggest what Blake's overall message was.

However, Jacob did not use knowledge of Blake's views To introduce a specific idea, Jacob says that Blake felt society was corrupt, but you really needed to focus on exactly which institutions were corrupt, and how exactly they were corrupt.

So now you need to give yourself a What Went Well and Even Better If using Jacob's answer and feedback as a guide, make sure you improve your work according to your Even Better If.

Try to provide an alternative viewpoint about Blake's message if you think that you did indeed meet all of the success criteria.

Pause the video and self-assess your work now.

Good effort, particularly great effort in making sure that you talked about a specific institution that Blake thought was corrupt, and exactly how he thought that institution was corrupt.

Let's go through all we've learned today.

Blake explores the tensions between the human passions and the oppressive nature of social and political conventions.

"Songs of Innocence and Experience" investigates how society corrupts innocence.

Blake was critical of social inequality created by institutions, such as the church, government, and monarchy.

Across "Songs of Innocence and Experience," he highlights the effect of the inaction of callous leaders on the vulnerable.

And Blake was a radical inspired by the French Revolution to warn about the restrictions on freedom.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it.

I hope you learned lots about the poem, "London," and I look forward to seeing you in another one soon.