Interpreting William Blake’s ‘London’: A Deep Dive into 18th Century British Society

In this post, we’re delving into the depths of the London scene portrayed by William Blake, the renowned 18th-century British romantic poet. His evocative poem, “London”, paints a stark picture of urban life at the onset of the Industrial Revolution, a time when the agrarian society was fading into history, making way for the hustle and bustle of city life.

Original Print of Blake's "London"

Blake’s poem is a potent social critique, where the language is economical, yet the power of his word choice is profound. He makes use of repeated phrases and words, drawing attention to the dichotomy of city life and nature, the man-made versus the natural, the stark reality versus the fairy tale expectation.

“London” is not a mere depiction of city life. Rather, it presents a narrator wandering through its streets, observing and internalizing the miseries of humanity he encounters. There’s an aura of loneliness and unhappiness, a sense of disconnect despite being surrounded by others, which resonates with anyone who has ever experienced the anonymity of urban life.

Blake’s narrator points to the marks of weakness and exhaustion on the faces of those coming from factories, critiquing the exploitative labor conditions of the time. The poet also highlights societal apathy towards the suffering of young chimney sweepers, a tragic reminder of the city’s dark secrets. The chimney sweepers, who were often children, worked in deplorable conditions, their plight remaining unnoticed or ignored by the very society that benefitted from their labor.

Blake doesn’t hold back in his critique of institutional indifference. The Church and the State, he argues, are indifferent to human suffering and injustice. The poem illustrates the plight of soldiers shedding blood for the interests of the state and the harlots who were often inflicted with diseases, only to pass them onto their customers who would unknowingly bring them back home.

The poem doesn’t offer a solution. Instead, it acts as a protest, crying out against societal ills and apathy. Blake presents a vivid picture of a society manacled by its own despair, bound by the chains of its inaction. By voicing out these atrocities, the poet forces us to confront our own complacency and challenges us to question what we would do in the face of such human misery.

Blake, who was also a skilled printmaker, often supplemented his poems with visual imagery. For “London”, he illustrates a young boy leading an old man and a child warming up by a fire, which further highlights the pervasiveness of suffering in the city.

In essence, Blake’s “London” is not just a depiction of city life, but a thought-provoking critique of society and a plea for empathy and action. Although it doesn’t end on a note of hope, it prompts us to reflect on our role in society and to consider how we can alleviate the suffering around us.

Hey, Teachers!

Teach the poem "London" to students in middle and high school with a jam-packed teacher resource on William Blake's London and the Industrial Revolution.

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Quotation: Mr. Keating from Dead Poets' Society on Writing

In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays the role of private school teacher Mr. Keating — a man who believes words can be bullets. Words matter. Maybe more so now than ever.

Even unintelligible text scribbled on a wall can be an idea.

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world"

— Mr. Keating, Dead Poets Society (1989)

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Quotation: Alfred North Whitehead on Great Ideas

A great idea, says Whitehead, "is like a phantom ocean beating upon the shores of human life in successive waves of specializing."

— Alfred North Whitehead

Source: Whitehead, Alfred North. Adventures of Ideas. United Kingdom, Free Press, 1967.

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“A Mere Labyrinth of Letters”: Preoccupations of Librarianship and Epistemological Conjecturing in Borges’ “The Library of Babel”

An illustration of the Library of Babel by Erik Desmazieres 

Librarians share two major philosophical preoccupations:

1. The idea of a total library
2. The futility of such a library.

Librarians are “total” in their desire for a perfect, or a complete library, but, unfortunately, the totalitarian nature of librarians has fossilized the notion that if it isn’t in the library then it doesn’t exist. The "if it is not in the records it does not exist" idea is as old as recorded history. The promise of complete, total, accessible knowledge (the first preoccupation) is shadowed by the librarian's futile wading through miles and miles of totality (the hell) to search and find that one piece of totality that one is looking. The total nature of the catalog is supposed to mirror precisely what is on the shelf. But the maddening job of the cataloger is to constantly check the catalog against what is on the shelf and fix any errors; this process has the hope of finish but is bound to be endlessly nonfinished. Librarians spend hours cleaning records, assigning call numbers, shelving books in an endless cycle of return. This nature of librarianship is actually not only the preoccupations of Library Science but of Western Philosophy in general.  Ever since the philosopher Thales posited that there must be something material that underlies all existence — we will forgive him for positing water — philosophers have searched for a univocity, or an absolute to explain that which undergirds reality. Of course, the philosophical search comes short. There is a futility in this search (think of Adam futile search to name all animals or Aristotle's futile search to give names to everything) although it does not cancel out the desire to search. That, my dear, is the paradox of the quest.

Video Repost: Is this the End of Publishing?

I  thought this video was thought-provoking. I presented the video to my classroom with mixed results.

Some comments from ninth grade students:

• "I get distracted when I read. It's not ideas I don't like, it's reading."

• "I think it's ironic they posted it on Youtube."

• I get it but it's hard to explain." 

• "Well, I don't read but I'm still smart."

• "I read in magazines what Lady Gaga's wearing, does that count?"

• "Oh, it reverses!"

• "They say 'Lady Gaga" with an "R" sound." 

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Body Language in the High School Classroom and What It Can Tell You About Your Students

The funniest thing about being a teacher is learning the body language of your students and discerning the meaning of their sometimes ineffable facial expressions.

Kids vibing in the classroom.

The Typical Layout of a Classroom Allows for Plenty of Observation into Human Behavior     
      When teaching a lesson, classroom teachers face the class so they see everything their kids are doing during a lesson (even though kids do not sometimes register this fact). On the flip side, kids are typically looking at their teachers all day which explains why kids are often flawless in their uncanny ability to imitate their teachers. Trust me. They can. I've seen it happen.

Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash

Kids Signal How They Are Feeling Through Body Language
      Here are some common messages your high school students are sending while you are delivering quality education in your classroom. N.B. I am not a clinical psychologist and I have not professionally studied human behavior — so take my observations with a grain of salt (or, leave your comments below detailing what you have observed).

• If a kid has his head down and does not look up for a considerable amount of time, most likely he or she is texting.
• If a high school student has a pen or pencil in their mouth and they're chewing it with wild abandon it probably means their mind is on something entirely different from whatever you're teaching.
• If they are twirling their hair: the same thing. But they are probably thinking about someone (not you).
• Head on the desk: not enough sleep at night. Disengagement.
• Fidgeters: these kids need to be more active during your lesson. Make them write on the board or do some kind of kinetic task to get that excess energy expended. 
• Smiling: they are listening. 
• Staring off into space: something else is more important. Or, they have something on their mind.
• Blank stare. Does not respond when called. They are listening to music or something. This is a perennial problem in the age of smart devices.  

Nipping Negative Behaviors in the Bud Before They Bloom
      Kids bring into your classroom whatever has happened to them during the course of the day. I did not teach him, but I knew a kindergarten-age child whose father would bring him to school and the kid would cry miserably when dropped off and was unpredictable and incorrigible for the rest of the day. But when the mother dropped him off, the child was well-behaved and acted appropriately for his age. The teacher, who was savvy, told the father not to enter the building for drop-off, and the teacher would meet the child at the entrance to the school when it was the father's turn to bring his kid to school. This school had breakfast available, so the teacher would make sure the student had breakfast and was able to check-in with his feelings — which typically made his day better. The point of the story is that kids bring with them their emotional baggage into the classroom. Most students are not as extreme in their behaviors as the kid I just described, but if as a teacher you stand at the threshold of your classroom as kids enter and take their seats you can pretty much do a "temperature check" of emotions and catch kids who might appear off or "not themselves". It works! One of my high school students would get into arguments with one of his classmates and their frustration with each other would often trickle into my class. But I wanted to get some teaching done and not have to worry about their squabbles. So, I made it a point to always observe these two when they entered my class and very quickly nipped it in the bud if they came in "hot". I would say, "one of you needs a moment. Take a minute by yourself and walk around outside for three minutes and come back".
Making Group Expressions Fun in the Classroom 
       My favorite is group expression: group laughter. I love it when the class acts as a group and the students respond spontaneously to the material and join in expressively. Take a few moments and tell a story. We were talking about embarrassing elementary school experiences: one kid told us how his teacher braided his moppish hair and I spoke about how I pulled down on my second-grade teacher's cardigan at a Halloween Haunted house. I was so scared. When we came out through the other end I had made her sweater into a dress.
       Don't make your lessons boring. Think — would I want to do this? Now. Granted. It is not your job to be the Pixar entertainment center for your students. Academic work can be taxing and kids need to learn self-discipline. We all have experienced tasks that feel tedious — like inputting grades in the grade book or taking attendance. The problem with being a teacher today: it is hard to make every lesson exhilarating. Sometimes, the lesson is boring. How do I make articles interesting? (especially at 7:40 in the AM). And: students are highly critical of their teachers. But, we demand a lot from them, so it goes both ways. Geez, if the opprobrium of the grade would disappear! Anyway: best moment this year: sculptures. Worst moment: being blamed for losing a notebook. Jesus, do I look like a housekeeper? Let's get back to nouns, verbs, and sh&(.

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