Holy Thursday - Songs of Innocence, William Blake

Title

Holy connotes optimism and hope for purity. The idea of innocence ties in nicely as those who are born innocent are from holy creation. Also known as Maundy Thursday; the Thursday before Easter. Easter represents new life and re-birth as well as forgiveness

'Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,

Reflective, past tense. Narrative voice setting the scene and letting the reader know the time frame with a reflective tone. Children are insinuated by the use of 'innocent'. The collective pronoun suggests there is a group, suggestive of children. Faces are clean as they are going to be put on show (for the church). Caesura in the middle of the line separates the subject of focus

The children walking two & two, in red & blue & green,

Reminiscent of Noah's ark, biblical imagery early on in the poem, suggestive of the setting. The children are being treated like animals. Asyndetic listing, blue and green suggestive of bruising, the children are not in a privileged position and are possibly being beaten. Caesura is suggestive of the children being broken up into small groups - they are being controlled and instructed

Grey headed beadles walk'd before with wands as white as snow

Grey is suggestive of age, wisdom and authority. Also, in contrast with Songs of Innocence, it is suggestive of experience. They have had time to sin versus the children who are void of sin. Beadles were in charge of controlling the children, often through force. Wands most likely used to threaten and control the children

Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.

Paul's is shortened, Blake is assuming that all readers know that St Paul's is being referenced. The Thame's is a comment on nature being free where the children are not, ironic juxtaposition. Also juxtaposes the industrial world working around them, ironic. Likened to the flowing of water to reinforce the idea of children being moved and also to bring movement to the poem with the use of enjambment

O what a multitude they seem'd these flowers of London town!

O, in conjunction with exclamative at the end brings voice to the poem and is suggestive of a raised tone. The children are flowers, the only good thing that Blake can see in London due to the industrialisation.

Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own.

Only the children are described as radiant and they are radiant despite, not because, of their surroundings, Blake is commenting on the corrupted nature of society

The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,

Imagery of lambs relevant to the fact that it is the Thursday before Easter. Represents new life and hope in re-birth. The children represent the new and innocent generation. Blake is hopeful that they won't be corrupted by the industrial, cruel world that has been created by man. Caesura used to reinforce the difference between the rest of society and the 'lambs' (children)

Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands.

Reinforcement of size against the force of the rest of the society. Makes the children seem fragile and vulnerable. The children are all raising their hands in union to signify their obedience. They are the sacrificial lamb destined to serve

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,

Now signifies a shift in the pattern of behaviour and a change of actions. The children suddenly have strength and their connection to the holy has been reinforced

Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven among.

Harmonious thunderings again reinforces the shift in their pattern of behaviour from being submissive to holding the power of hope for the future. Eye rhyme of song and among disturbs the movement of the poem, suggests that not all is as it seems. London may look functional but it has a troubled underbelly

Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor;

This is ironic as the aged men have not fulfilled their duty to guard the poor who are struggling. A Romantic focus of attention. Caesura reflective of the change in focus where the effectiveness of the aged men in their duty is being assessed

Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

Pity suggests that the reader should be in a position to help but hasn't. Angels remind the reader of the inherent innocence of children and the importance of protecting them. Use of the 2nd person pronoun feels accusatory, an introspective warning for the future

Narrator

God like omniscient narrator who sees all and knows all. Brings a moral aspect to the viewing of the events. Third person narrative throughout, 2nd person address in the last line as a plea to the reader

Tone

Exclamatives bring voice and tone to make the poem feel as though it is being spoken. Accusatory tone towards the end to encourage action from the reader to protect the children against the corruption of the world

Structure

Three stanzas, each with two rhyming couplets. Stanza one is one sentence, suggestive of movement, reinforces the movement of the Thames. This contrasts the closed couplets in the remaining stanzas. The freedom of the children's movements is contrasted by the closed mindedness of wider society. Spondees at the start of first and last lines of the third stanza create emphasis, enhancing the magnitude of the scene

Rhyme

Rhyming couplets throughout help create movement in the poem. The occasional eye rhymes are suggestive of a disturbance within society - London has a troubled underbelly

Romantic context

Romantics though that children were the hope for the future and that they should be protected. The children in this poem were most likely under an institution and were not treated very well. Romantics felt that children should be allowed to explore the beauty of nature felt that controlling them in a strict manor would not benefit them. They also hated the industrialisation taking place at the time, wanting nature to be respected and preserved.

Blake context

Blake wrote about his home town London and after seeing the poverty surrounding him he wrote Songs of Innocence. Five years later he wrote Songs of Experience. He had hoped that in writing the Songs of Innocence, the situation in society would change. When it did not, he wrote Songs of Experience in a bitter tone, livid that the situation for the poor and for children had not improved