"Holy Thursday" is a poem from William Blake's collection "Songs of Experience," which was published in 1794 as a companion to his earlier work, "Songs of Innocence." The poem reflects on the theme of innocence and experience, and specifically addresses the issue of child labor and exploitation.
In the opening lines, Blake describes a procession of children "bound" and "forced" to march on Holy Thursday, which is a reference to the traditional Christian celebration of Maundy Thursday. The imagery of the children being "bound" and "forced" suggests that they are being treated as prisoners or slaves, rather than as innocent and free beings.
As the poem progresses, Blake becomes increasingly critical of the institutions that allow for the exploitation of children. He compares the children to "flowers" and "innocents" who are "torn" and "bereaved" by the "dark satanic mills" in which they are forced to work. These lines suggest that the children are being treated inhumanely and cruelly, and that they are being robbed of their natural beauty and innocence.
In the final stanza, Blake addresses the issue of responsibility for the exploitation of children. He asks, "Is this a holy thing to see / In a rich and fruitful land, / Babes reduced to misery, / Fed with cold and usurious hand?" This question implies that the exploitation of children is not only immoral, but also a violation of the Christian principle of charity and compassion.
Overall, "Holy Thursday" is a powerful critique of the social and economic systems that allow for the exploitation of children. Blake's use of imagery and rhetorical questions effectively conveys the injustice and cruelty of child labor, and calls for a more compassionate and equitable society.
William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience
Others grew up stunted and deformed, dying at a young age from cancer or lung diseases. The Poet's Fury at the Picture of England: In Blake's 'Holy Thursday' the poet hurls his defiance at the unjustifiable attitude of society towards the poor children of the charity schools. Paul's Cathedral where the starving children are compelled to kneel and pray. GradeSaver, 31 May 2011 Web. Some children are able to see the larger truth; some adults never perceive it. This may sound a harsh description, but we need to remember that the charity schools of the eighteenth century were aimed at turning out child workers for the most brutal industries. Can it be a song of joy? The black boy will become like the white boy, who in turn will learn to love his black counterpart.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience Summary
But they need not be desperate because if they strive they can bring about a new epoch of God's grace and a new dawn of divine benediction. And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love, And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove. Within this gloom, though, lies the ember which can leap into flame at any moment to light the way to the higher innocence. Also, music strikes the senses directly, but the use of words restricts the audience to those who know and can understand a particular language. Obviously the reference is to the echo produced by the hollow dome.
Holy Thursday (Songs of Innocence) by William Blake
Blake's method in both the series, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience is basically simple, its roots lying in his concept of states and their symbols. In the poem it is obvious that the small amount of care that the children receive is not granted because the people want to, but for self-interest. Songs of Experience reveals that this acceptance of society as it is and belief in a caring God is naïve. They crave for God's blessings and in His name they ostentatiously show philanthropism and benevolence. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God.
Songs of Experience: Introduction
Can it be a song of joy? To show the measure of this harassment Blake has incorporated in the Songs of Experience some poems which furnish utter contrast to their counterparts which are in the Songs of Innocence. What this was we can only guess, and such clues as are available point to a combination of different causes. Actually the sceptre of a pope or the staff of an ecclesiastical priest has a religious connotation. That may be why Blake has incorporated, in a majority of the cases, poems as antitypes to what he believed idealistic and natural. For enhancing the description of the human suffering, stanza 3 vividly conveys the image of the miserable land.
Introduction to the Songs of Experience by…
Is given thee till the break of day. As Blake wrote in the preface to Jerusalem, every word and every letter is studied and put into its fit place; the terrific numbers are reserved for terrific parts, the mild and gentle for the mild and gentle parts, and prosaic for inferior parts; all of them necessary to one other. Adults know that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb of God, who paid for the sins of humanity with death, like those of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. When compared to the Biblical tale of the angels visiting Lot in the city of Sodom, the image of an angel being driven away at the door becomes more depressing. In what distant deeps or skies. Songs of Innocence and of Experience is the foundation of the work of one of the greatest English poets and artists. Furthermore the essence of their innocence is retained by the poet in associating them with 'multitude of lambs'.
Songs of Experience by William Blake
But how can a creative or procreative impulse fulfil itself when suppressed Earth is bound with a heavy chain of Reason or repressive Moral Law or the flesh it self. The poem projects the children of charity schools marching to St. With their bright faces appropriate to children they sit in batches for service. While recognizing the preeminence of God and the singular potency of His will to redeem a fallen world, the Bard unfortunately slips into the error of addressing others as if they could be self-redeemed and have a choice in the matter. Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song, Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven among. And their sun does never shine, And their fields are bleak and bare, And their ways are filled with thorns: It is eternal winter there.
Holy Thursday: by William Blake
We discuss here some of the aspects of experience. The poet stands beyond the periphery and represents himself as a stranger. Can it be a song of joy? An old man has been watching the children at play, and they note that he and the other older people remember that they used to play like that in their youth. Thus, their divinity, that is innocence, is annihilated in pressing them to surrender to the sophisticated social decorum and conventions. Against these inhumane approaches of the society Blake tilts his quill and through the poignant medium of his poetry he pillories the institutions that are responsible for these evil practices.
Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)
Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? By using God, he talks about the effects on minors of society. Blake supports the God Christ who loves and does not punish and looks at Jehovah tyrant - the God of the Old Testament inflicting punishments and demanding sacrifices - with contempt and hatred. What this was we can only guess, and such clues as are available point to a combination of different causes. As we see Christianity propagates the lesson of mutual love and charity as well as benevolence among mankind. And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? This may appear to be a harsh description, but keep in mind that the charity schools of the eighteenth century were designed to train children for the cruellest industries. But it is strikingly the opposite in the realm of the Songs of Experience. But in this progress towards prosperity many of the poor underwent inexplicable hazards.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience “Holy Thursday” (Songs of Innocence) Summary and Analysis
The poem projects the children of charity schools marching to St. Adults know that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb of God, who paid for the sins of humanity with death, like those of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. Blake's 'The Human Abstract' has a universal relevance and it is indeed the most bitter truth and a grim contrast to 'The Divine Image' of Innocence. But behind this show, the poet knows that they are hollow and pitiless. The poem ends with a moral: have pity on those less fortunate than yourself, as they include angelic boys and girls like those described here.