Holy Thursday (Innocence) - COMPLETE

William Blake

Context

‘Holy Thursday’ was a celebration of Jesus making the Commandment: ‘That ye love one another; as I have loved you’. - Message to the rich, especially with the direct address at the end. Using religion to appeal to them = religion was the most important aspect of Georgian life.

Ascension Day - God going to Heaven

Charity school children were beaten or mistreated. Industrial Revolution forced children into labour, as well as corrupting nature and leading to unnecessary deaths.

‘Innocent faces clean’

‘Innocent faces clean’ - not affected by the pollution/grime of London yet. Fresh-faced, pre-existence. Children are innocent because they have come from Heaven.

‘Two and two’

‘Two & two’ - Noah’s ark. ‘Animals’ chosen by God to be saved. However, the numbers and precision suggest that the children’s’ ‘spirits’ have been restrained, they are not playing like other children. Blake believed childhood was sacred, and needed to be protected from the horrors of the Industrial Revolution, such as cruel child labour.

‘Red & blue & green’

‘Red & blue & green’ = Vibrancy. Individual character will stand out against the muted colours of the Church. Rainbow colours also link to Noah’s Ark. The rainbow was a message to not destroy God’s Earth again. Children represent new beginnings. Blake was critical of industrialization and treatment of the poor.

‘Gray-headed beadles’ ‘wands white as snow’

 Grey has no vibrancy, adults are beyond saving. Cruel treatment of children has left them with no ‘colour’. ‘Snow’ is cold, indicating they are cold in nature. ‘Wands’ were used to beat the children.

‘Like Thames waters flow’

 Nature = nature is connected to freedom as a contrast to the Industrial Revolution., as it is a contrast to the grimy state of London at the time. However, the Thames gradually began to pollute as time moved on, suggesting that the children are going to end up like the Thames.

‘Flowers of London town’

Flowers are pretty, and juxtapose pollution. However, flowers can not thrive in polluted environments, suggesting they will either die or become factory workers.

‘They sit with radiance all on their own’

Natural radiance. Pre-existence. Innocence is associated with God’s light

‘Hum’

 bees hum. Nature imagery emphasises goodness, but worker bees take up the majority of the hive, suggesting their only worth will be being a worker in a factory.

‘Multitude of lambs’

 Innocence and absence of guilt are the base of lamb symbolism. Lambs also link to the ‘lamb to the slaughter’ phrase. Suggests the children will die or become factory workers, removing their individuality and connection to God, which the lamb also symbolises.

‘Mighty Wind’

Associating the children with nature. ‘Mighty’ suggests they have power despite being seen as weak by the public. God’s spirit (The Holy Spirit) is also described as a wind, likening the children to being literal God. Pre-existence. The children are so innocent that they have a connection to nature.

‘They raise to Heaven’

Angelic. Pre-existence.

‘Beneath them’

the beadles are morally wrong. They are not closer to Heaven despite ‘looking after’ the children by instructing them in the Christian faith. Blake’s disdain for the Established Church is evident here.

‘Wise guardians of the poor’

Sarcasm. Blake believed that if they were not given freedom in childhood, they would not adapt well in adulthood.

‘Then cherish pity’

Takes on an instructive tone towards the end. Significant that the instruction comes at the end because the description of the children has endeared them to the audience. Compelled to help them. Emotional impact.

‘Cherish pity’ is also encouraging an emotional response toward the audience, this arguably being one of Blake’s attempts to incite emotion, which the Romantics prioritised.

‘An angel’

pre-existence. God’s helpers. Innocence.

Blake poems and childhood literature

Not relevant to this poem, relevant to others.

Blake often did not provide a solution to problems in his poetry due to wanting to be different to the moralistic childhood literature of the time, which he disliked.

Context - Historical - songs of innocence

Two sides of the human soul. Innocence reflects on religion, corruption, and fleeting innocence off childhood. Additionally, it informs the lives of children and their naive hopes and fears. It also explores innocence.

Experience considers the innocence of childhood and how it is corrupted. Marks the psychological passage to adult experience.

Personal context

Hiss work was largely ignored throughout his life.

Believed that poetry should both excite and instruct.

Believed that poets should speak from the tradition that bards deliver the Holy Word to the land.

Supported the American and French Revolution. However, the Reign of Terror made him revise the view.

Believed in free love. No restrictions on homosexuality, prostitution, or adultery. Believed marriage was slavery.

More historical context - indepth

Ascension Day/Maundy Thursday: God gave the new commandment to love one another.

Charity school children received cruel treatment from the teachers - including deprivation from food.

Blake criticised the working conditions of the Industrial Revolution and how it forced children to work. Romantics prioritised freedom and emotional intellect, something which the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment challenged. It also lead to the destruction of nature.

Context - Beadles

Beadles were Church-assigned people meant to maintain order. Blake hated established religion, believing it restricted individuality and restricted the direct relationship between humanity and God.

‘The beast and the whore rule without control’