The concept of universal human suffering permeates William Blake's painful poem "London", which describes a city of causalities fallen into its own psychological and ideological demoralization. Although the poem is set in the London of Blake's time, its use of symbolic characters throughout the piece and the anaphoric use of the term "in every" in the first and second stanzas indicate that Blake's setting of London is a representation connotative of the whole world. city, whose inhabitants represent all the peoples of the world. In this sense, "London" is a poem about the universal human condition. It would be impossible to paraphrase "London" in prose, because its poetic meaning derives from the ambiguity of connotative language and the necessity of an unresolved paradox. The beauty and power of the poem derive from concrete and specific images of London that evoke the ecumenical idea that man is suspended between the society in which he lives and his own indeterminate nature. Man is helpless; poised between these diametrical poles, he cannot escape even his own anguish. Blake's theme develops through two central paradoxes in the poem: the fundamental and evident paradox between man and society, and the underlying and enigmatic paradox between man and nature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The paradox between man and society is evident in Blake's portrayal of social and political institutions as carriers of humanity's philosophical anguish. In reality, this desperation is the consequence of the impenetrable paradox that arises when Man creates the very institutions that enslave him. The human characters of "London" - the Man, the Child, the Chimney Sweep, the Soldier and the Prostitute - simultaneously embody humanity's cruel institutions as well as its individual experiences. For example, Blake's line "In every Infant's cry of fear" signifies both the fear of the dangers lurking in "every charter road" and the loss of spring innocence. “And the sigh of the hapless Soldier/ Runs in blood along the Palace walls” has the double meaning of a society living under a tradition of war and death, as well as the danger of submitting to vicious customs with nothing more than a “sigh,” because war is destruction results equally from acquiescence and combat. These symbolic characters are deeply conflicted, as Blake indicates that they are shackled by their acquiescence to their own brutal oppressors. The paradox arises from humanity's irrational and inexplicable propensity to surrender. In “London,” people become willing parts of a corrupt system, as immediately evidenced in the opening verse: “I go down every authorized street/ Near where the chartered Thames flows/ And mark in every face I meet/ Signs of weakness, signs of doom." Man-made roads are established, decreed and created by men, but so is the Thames. How can you rent a river? By altering his natural state by building society, man has somehow repressed his own nature; the Thames, a natural river, is licensed because it is tied to the city, not free. Blake first emphasizes the "weakness" of man, and then the "trouble", implying that human suffering derives first and foremost from human weakness, that there is a causal relationship. “Handcuffs forged by the mind” reinforces this notion of self-slavery – and it is paradoxical, for man cannot be mutually beholden to society and himself, when the demands of both seem so innately incongruous. Yet somehow, within the framework of the poem, Blake's contradictory suggestions gain conviction and.