Holy Thursday (E)

• Theme of poverty and society's failures

  • A tirade against an England that starves and impoverishes its children. These children are an indictment of a disordered and monstrously selfish society.
  • The speaker is horrified by the sight rather than fascinated.
  • The schools' charity is self-serving, demanding that the children in their care put on a performance of gratitude and joy.
• Theme of society vs. nature

  • The natural world can and should supply everything humanity needs, and natural human kindness should ensure that everyone can live a good life.
  • English society has therefore become unnatural.
  • England is a "rich and fruitful" land, the speaker points out that children shouldn't be in poverty.
  • A society that doesn't provide for everyone is a society working against the natural order.
• Form

  • The simplicity of Blake's form in this poem conveys rage over England's society's failures and corruption.
  • The poem looks and sounds like a nursery rhyme, but is rather eerie in conveying Blake's social critique.
• Meter

  • Written in a powerful, driving accentual meter meaning that the poem doesn't stick to any particular metrical foot.
  • Keeps a certain number of stressed beats per line which march on steadily, creating a rhythm that makes the poem sound like an angry, political nursery rhyme.
• Rhyme scheme

  • The rhyme scheme varies as in the first stanza, the poem uses an alternating ABAB pattern. In the second stanza, there is a softer ABCB pattern.
  • These rhymes are simple, similar to those of ballads or folk songs.
  • Unpredictable rhyme scheme mixture may reflect the speaker's voice breaking due to their rage against false charity and the sufferings of impoverished children.
• Speaker

  • Outraged speaker sounds a lot like William Blake himself, making no secret of the horror of society's corruption.
  • Speaker contrasts directly to the speaker in Holy Thursday (Songs of Innocence).
  • That speaker is preoccupied by the beauty of the children, not questioning society's failure, this one is passionate to advocate for change.
• Setting

  • Set on Holy Thursday, a Christian religious holiday just before Easter which commemorates the Last Supper, a day of humility and service.
  • Children of London's charity schools were paraded around St Paul's Cathedral for a church service, to show off the gratitude for their caretakers and their humble goodness.
• "It is a holy thing to see // In a rich and fruitful land."

  • "holy thing" may be a direct attack against the church, holiness being misplaced for hypocrisy, showing the corruption of the church through the abandonment of Christian values for profit and power.
  • "rich and fruitful" links to the power and beauty of nature, links to fertility and the nurture nature provides humanity with, contrasting the poverty of the children.
• "Babes reduced to misery, // Fed with cold and usurous hand?"

  • "Babes" referring to innocent children.
  • "reduced" suggesting that these children should not be impoverished, they are living a lifestyle that they do not deserve.
  • "cold" connotes the cold-hearted people leading the orphanages, providing a lack of care and emotion towards these children.
  • "usurous" meaning lending money with extreme interest, link to children being exploited for labour.
  • Metonym of "hand" represents the charitable schools who supposedly help the orphans. Criticises society and authority.
• "It is a land of poverty!"

  • Exclamation emphasises suffering and sounds definite, which contrasts the previous rhetorical questions.
  • Diminishes the whole country/ the whole "land."
  • "poverty" directly criticises society's failures, links to Blake's identity as a radical, insulting those in authority, as England is "fruitful" yet poverty is so prominent.
• "And their ways are filled with thorns: // It is eternal winter there."

  • "thorns" are restricting, a sense of no escape reflecting the terrifying power of nature. Image of pain and crucifixion/the crown of thorns. The children's suffering links to Jesus, they are given a pathway to heaven after death.
  • Pathetic fallacy of "eternal winter" highlights connection of children with nature, also highlighting their never-ending, "eternal" suffering. Distorts the pleasant Romantic view of nature.
  • End-stopped line sounds definite.
• "Babes should never hunger there, // Nor poverty the mind appall."

  • Blake emphasises the need to care for children and criticises the corrupt British society.
  • "appall" reflects Blake's own compassion for the impoverished children living as a social critic.
  • "never" suggests it is unnatural for children to suffer in such a "rich and fruitful land." England's failure shows the disruption of the natural order.