London

I found this poem extremely depressing but also interesting. The poem starts out with pretty much everyone being miserable. It makes me think that some sort of tragedy or disaster occurred. The last line of the first stanza contains alliteration, "weakness and woe". I feel like this is effective because it is emphasizing the pain of the people in London. The third stanza moves into the specific classes of people. It pushes the blame to the upper class/royalty. It makes me think that something big must have happened because usually the government gets blamed when a huge disaster occurs.


The last stanza I think contains the most meaning. It offers two paradoxes: "youthful Harlot" and "Marriage hearse". The paradox of youthful harlot shows that the prostitutes are to be sympathized with not blamed. The speaker is claiming that they are still innocent and the destruction in London have left them with no other choice but to turn to prostitution. The second paradox of marriage hearse is kind of reiterating the destruction. It's basically saying that the prostitutes are ruining marriages and bringing children into an unhealthy environment. However, again the speaker is not blaming the prostitutes, just stating what the world has come to.