I choose the poem “London” by William Blake. The title of the poem drew me to select the poem “London”. A pair of lines that seems meaningful to me is In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear. These pair of lines mean that he sees pain in people’s eyes and the fears and tears in newborn babies. Everyone in the city of London is placed on restriction by law based on the population. William Blake can understand the feelings of people of being abused in the city life. The theme of the poem “London” is the city London is a dark and miserable place.
Use quotation marks around the lines you are quoting. I am interested in the “mind-forg’d manacles” here. What do you think Blake has in mind? What are manacles? What does it mean to suggest that they are mind-forg’d?