Read the poem 'London' by William Blake and answer the question given below :

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

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

How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

In the third stanza, the poet is critical of the :

Question

Read the poem 'London' by William Blake and answer the question given below :

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. 
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

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

How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls, 
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear 
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

In the third stanza, the poet is critical of the :

Accepted Answer

The poet in the third stanza is critical of **political and religious institutions (Option 4)**. Here's why:

*   **Blackening Church:** The phrase "Every blackning Church appalls" directly criticizes the Church. The word "blackening" suggests corruption, moral decay, and a loss of spiritual purity. The Church, a religious institution, is being condemned for its hypocrisy and failure to protect the vulnerable.

*   **Blooded Palace Walls:** The phrase "And the hapless Soldiers sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls" criticizes the monarchy and the state. The "Palace walls" represent the seat of political power. The "hapless Soldiers sigh" and the image of "blood" suggest the suffering and death caused by war and political decisions made by those in power. The blood running down the palace walls symbolizes the guilt and responsibility of the ruling class for the violence and oppression.

Therefore, the stanza is not simply about individual elements like chimney sweepers or soldiers, but about the systemic problems within the religious and political structures of society that lead to suffering. The poet uses these specific images to indict the larger institutions.

Here's why the other options are incorrect:

*   **Option 1: chimney sweeper:** While the chimney sweeper's cry is mentioned in the previous line, the focus of the stanza is not on the chimney sweeper himself, but on how his suffering reflects the failings of the Church. The chimney sweeper is a *symptom* of a larger problem, not the problem itself.

*   **Option 2: hapless soldier:** Similar to the chimney sweeper, the soldier is a victim of the system. The stanza uses the soldier's suffering to criticize the political institutions that send them to war and cause their misery. The soldier is a *symptom* of the political problems, not the root cause.

*   **Option 3: blackening church and blooded palace walls:** While this option correctly identifies two key elements of the stanza, it doesn't go far enough. It describes the *symbols* of the problem but doesn't explicitly state what the poet is criticizing. Option 4 is more accurate because it identifies the *institutions* that these symbols represent: religious and political institutions. The church and palace walls are representative of larger systems of power.