"I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
A mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe."
London is a short poem by William Blake that was originally published in 1794 within Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). Blake previously wrote Songs of Innocence in 1789 as a contrary to the Songs of Experience, and later published them both together in juxtaposition. These verses are one of the few in Songs of Experience that does not have a corresponding poem in Songs of Innocence.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.
