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 Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every black’ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.But most thro‘ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
Anlass: „there is more understanding of the nature of capitalist society in a poem like ‚i wander through each charter’d street‘ than in three quarters of Socialist literature.“ (aus G. Orwells Essay ‚Charles Dickens‘)