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-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening church appalls; 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LINES ON CARMEN SYLVA by EMMA LAZARUS DEATH SNIPS PROUD MEN by CARL SANDBURG IN THE BERKSHIRE HILLS by LOUIS UNTERMEYER STANZAS IN MEMORY OF THE AUTHOR OF OBERMANN by MATTHEW ARNOLD SPRING, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE RECOLLECTIONS OF LOVE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ACCIDENT IN ART by RICHARD HOVEY |