Holy Thursday Flashcards
“Twas on Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean”
Both Chimney-Sweeper poems show Blake to be a radical critic of the social injustices of his age. His indictment of desperate material conditions and those institutions which perpetuate them is passionate and powerful, but his greatest anger is reserved for the forces – the established Church, mercenary and uncaring parents – that restrict our vision and prevent us from understanding both our oppression and the infinite possibilities of true perception.
“two and two”
This highlights either good discipline or alternatively the unnatural regimentation that the adults enforce on the children
“red, and blue and green”
These are pure primary colours, such as children like, though it was likely their clothes were dark-coloured and drab.
The adults are by contrast “Grey headed”, implying age and experience
“Grey headed beadles walked ahead with wands as white as snow”
Beadles were officials in charge of school, churches and other institutions. Here they are “grey-headed”, implying age and experience. The ‘white as snow wand’ is ambiguous. White suggests purity and wise guidance, but the ‘wand’ could be a cane that could symbolise oppression.
The modern reader will associate the beadle with the sadistic character from Dickens’ Oliver Twist, though this post-dates Blake by several decades. The reader can assume that the beadle is a role which involves unchecked, arbitrary power and cruelty, for all that Blake’s depiction is ironically positive.
“like the Thames waters flow”
The simile emphasises the flow of children — several thousands — the numbers of orphans in London was huge.
We might question the comparison with Thames waters. Is this a comparison with the pure natural world? Or should we bare in mind that the Thames was polluted; an open sewer? It is for the reader to speculate.
“O what a multitude”
lament
the orphan population was vast; and this is taking into account the high childhood mortality rate which would have depleted the numbers. The scale of the need and suffering is emphasised.
“flowers of London town”
These children, flowers, are portrayed as precious and vulnerable, the heart of the city. They metaphor of the flowers, representing the natural world, delicacy and beauty, is in contrast to the corrupt city with its dreadful living conditions for most of the population.
“radiance”
ironic
Poor diet and ill-treatment would have destroyed these children’s ‘radiance’.
“the hum of multitudes”
The noun ‘hum’ is onomatopoeic, suggesting a soothing murmur of well-behaved children, perhaps lacking the energy and excitement of well-fed children today. The repetition of ‘multitudes’ emphasises the numbers.
“multitudes of lambs”
This is the traditional symbol of innocence, ironically, because these children would have experienced the worst of life’s hardships. They are, by implication, compared here to Jesus Christ in that they are sacrificed.
“raising their hands”
They are described as raising their hands to heaven in prayer, ostensibly in thanks for the ‘benevolence’ of the charitable organisations that house them. This is ambiguous; they were more likely to be pleading to God for kinder treatment.
“Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven among”
The drama mounts in this couplet. The ‘mighty wind’ and ‘thundering’ could signify their song of thanks, given that this is a ‘Song of Innocence.’
But it is in truth more likely a ‘song’ of anger. The ambiguity is expressed in the oxymoron ‘harmonious thunderings’. This could reflect the wrath of heaven at human hypocrisy, the lack of true Christian charity in the treatment of the children. It could also reflect Blake’s anger.
“Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor”
The school described here is a charity school – the donations made to this school made by these wise guardians – sense that these children should be appreciative of these guardians
The children are portrayed as innocent and compared to lambs, as Jesus Christ was, in stark contrast with the aged men. It is interesting that Blake positions the aged men ‘beneath’ the children, suggesting that they have lesser spiritual standing and corrupt morals. They are described as ‘aged’ and ‘wise’ when the reality is that they were abusers of their vulnerable charges.
At the time, the Church was in charge of the well being of these children. Blake is suggesting that the Church was incapable of helping and the title ‘wise guardians of the poor’ is sarcastic.
Blake did not believe the poor were helped
“cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door”
veiled irony of the preceding lines. The ‘pity’ is what is needed to rescue these children. Their potential to be ‘angels’ — typical of William Blake’s belief in the spirituality and nobility of humans — can only be realised with compassionate care. The ‘angels’, the good adults, can only develop if properly nurtured as children
Look closer
The poem is based on the contrast between the ‘innocent faces’ of the children and the authority of the ‘grey headed beadles’ and the other ‘aged men’ who act as their guardians. Although the children are made to enter the cathedral in regimented order, their angelic innocence overcomes all the constraints put upon them by authority – they even make the ‘red and blue and green’ of their school uniforms look like ‘flowers of London town’. As the boys and girls raise their hands and their voices to heaven, the narrator imagines them rising up to heaven too, just as Christ himself did on Ascension Day. In the poet’s vision they leave their ‘wise Guardians’ beneath them and become angels – which is why the last line tells us to ‘cherish pity’ and remember our duty to the poor. Although the triple repetition of ‘multitude(s)’ notes how many thousands of children live in poverty in London, the emphasis in this poem is on the ‘radiance’ which they bring to the church – they are ‘multitudes of lambs’. In the contrary Songs of Experience, Blake provides an opposing opinion and a social critique: ‘And so many children poor? It is a land of poverty’.
SONGS OF INNOCENCE:
