Question:
Meter of Blake's "London"?
Is the first two lines in iambs? I'm horrible in scansion
I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:
How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.
But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Yes, the first two lines are iambic. They start on a weak stress and end on a strong one. The stresses fall on: wan-through-char-street
where-char-Thames-flow
So there are four stresses in each line: the lines are iambic tetrameters.