Holy Thursday by William Blake

“Holy Thursday” was published by William Blake in both the “Songs of Experience”
and the “Songs of Innocence”. In the Songs of Experience, Blake criticizes the charity
workers saying that the money they get to provide the children with clothes, toys etc is
being spent on them. “Fed with Cold and usurous hands?”. In the “Songs of Innocence poem
Blake takes a lighter tone and describes them as happy and innocent children, “Oh what a
multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town”.

In the “Songs of Innocence” poem the children are described as “these flowers of
London town”. This tells us that the orphans are brightening up London as flowers do to
towns; flowers are thought of as innocent hence this description in the poem. In other parts
of the poem they are also described as innocent. “Multitudes of lambs” – In the bible lambs
come across as innocent, which is why Blake has used this image to portray what the
children remind him of. In my opinion I think they are described as lambs because they are
defenceless, harmless beings which have not been corrupted by the world. The children are
also described as “Like Thames water flow” meaning that they blend in with their
surroundings. You could also say that their presence is welcome by all.

The “Songs of Experience” is a more negative toned poem which criticizes London
and the people who are running it. You can see how the two poems differ by comparing
lines in the poem such as: In the “Songs of Innocence they sing majestically “Like
harmonious thundering” but we can see how it sings into a “Trembling cry”. Blake
disapproves of this we know this because in the poem he asks “Is that trembling cry a
song?”. Another point which ‘Blake focuses on are the orphan carers, he shows that the
carers are spending the money that they are given on themselves rather than the children.
However, in the “Songs of Innocence the children are well looked after, this can be related
to their singing; they are singing beautifully because they are prosperous and happy. On the
other hand the underprivileged orphans from the “Songs of Innocence” are shrieking rather
than singing.

The message given in the poem is that these poor orphans are not looked after
properly due to the fact that the money given to them is being misused. In the poem Blake
is blaming society for letting this happen.

In the last stanza we are told what prosperity is for the orphans of the “Songs of
Experience” which is basically the factors that every living thing needs to sustain life: sun,
rain and food.

Done By Sean Federico

 “For where’re the sun does shine,

And where’re the rain does fall,

Babes should never hunger there,

Nor poverty the mind appal.”

I think what the “Songs of Experience” poem tells us about the life that the orphans lead is
that they are poor, deprived children which don’t have anything barely enough to keep living. The
poem also tells us that their lives are “Bleak and bare, And their ways are filled with thorns” meaning
that their life is not an easy one and that will not change. It also shows us how lucky we are to have
such an easy and prosperous life. In the “Songs of Innocence” it is showing us how our lives really
are, I think he did this to make us see how different our lives but how similar they could be.

Done By Sean Federico