William Blake's London?

Question

I was wondering if someone could give me the meaning of these two verses?

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every black'ning Church appalls,

Answer 1

"As the church building is literally "black'ning" with smoke from the chimneys, so the church as an organisation, which should help the poor, is blackened, metaphorically, with shame at its failure to give that help. The church should be appalled, as the poet evidently is, by the cry of the "chimney-sweeper". (There is a pun here: "appals" means "goes pale", as with fear, but these churches are going black, with smoke and soot.)"

This link should help with your analysis:

http://goforgold-dog.blogspot.com/2008/0...

Answer 2

Chimney-sweepers in Blake's day were children, as young as four, so why they are crying seems evident,

as for the next line, i think blake means to criticize the church for not intervening in the abuse of children's rights.