The effect enhances the tone and rhythm of the poem, which is quite differently experienced when reading from print. Reading the poem visually also assists with content and meaning. Listening to Stallworthy is much more of a purely musical experience, a lot like listening to a song but ignoring the lyrics. The lyrics and the vocal character of the singer are two separate things. Likewise, Blake's words and how the words sound are also two very different things. Both aspects of the poetry are meaningful and integral to a thorough understanding of the poem. Reading the poem in print offers much more of an opportunity to linger and spend time with individual words, phrases, and patterns of words. The audio encounter flies by, and unless the listener stops the recording it is impossible to focus on one particular aspect of the poem. Reading the poem visually allows the reader to spend time examining the diction, the arrangement of words, and also the patterns that make "London" a joy to read. The second stanza, for example, contains four lines like all the other stanzas do. Ye the second stanza is the only one in which the first three lines begin with the same two words." Repetition is a skillful poetic device and does come across in the audio version but only after the reader becomes familiar with the placement of the words on the page. Seeing the words...

When listening to Stallworthy, listeners may get caught up in the aural experience. On the contrary, some instances of repetition might emerge more powerfully in the audio reading such as the word "charter'd" in the first stanza. Stallworthy stresses the second instance of the word.
Reading the poem in print encourages a deep investigation of the motifs, symbols, themes, and figures of speech. The term "charter'd street" in the first line is not a common one, for example. The term "black'ning Church" is also worth focusing on in a visual reading because it refers directly to the Chimney -- sweeper mentioned in the line prior. Listening to Stallworthy makes it easy to miss the semantic connection between the two lines. A visual reading also encourages an in-depth understanding of the symbols and images that make "London" powerful such as the "Marriage hearse" in the last line of the poem.

Often, the audio and visual readings of the poem converge to offer the best possible interpretation of Blake's poetry. Vivid images like the blood running down Palace walls are equally as poignant in print as to the ear. The overall theme of bleakness and death is apparent with either way of reading. Blake's "London" is particularly powerful when both listened to and read visually at the same time.