Known for his rebellious artistic disposition, William Blake starts the poem “London” with a dark and depressing atmosphere to depict a very frightening and abysmal picture of the late eighteenth century London and its inhabitants. “London” is primarily a protest against all constrictions of his time-religious, socioeconomic, political, institutional, sexual, and so on. The aristocracy of the time dominates and demeans the majority of the lower and middle classes. Common people are constantly afflicted with pain and plight. More to the point, they have no freedom here at all. The types of work mentioned in the poem like ‘chimney sweeper’, the ‘soldier’, and the ‘harlot’ are also telling the negative social features intimated with the bleak physical environment of London. The poet directly accuses and condemns authoritative institutions of failing to serve people and of creating tyranny. “London” is really a devastating portrait of a ‘charter’d’ society where all souls and bodies are trapped, exploited and infected. It is as if the very heart of the English Empire is corrupted and diseased. Here we only see an ominous scene of decadence-physical, moral and spiritual. The objective of this article is to explore the bleak and sneaky picture of London with the egregious consequences of diseasing the creative capabilities of a society.

Keywords: William Blake, London, Social Protest, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Tyranny, Romanticism.