Comment on the poetic diction of the quoted lines William Blake's - poem London uses simple words to paint a dark picture of city life He picks words that make us feel the sadness and control people faced in his time The poem uses clear straightforward language to talk about big problems in society In the poem Blake uses words like charter'd marks of weakness and mind-forg'd manacles These phrases are very strong Charter'd tells us that everything is under strict control It is used twice at the start making this idea very clear The words marks of weakness marks of woe show us that everyone he sees is either sad or having a hard time It makes us think of scars that tell stories of tough lives Blake also talks about the sounds of the city He mentions mind-forg'd manacles This means that people are trapped by their own