HOLY THURSDAY (EXPERIENCE)

Question 1

What is Holy Thursday? (Or Maundy Thursday)

Answer 1

• A Christian holy day that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with his disciples.
• On the Thursday before Easter Sunday

Question 2

What is Ascension day?

Answer 2

• Ascension Day is traditionally known as Holy Thursday in the Christian calendar.

Question 2

What happened on Holy Thursday?

Answer 2

• Jesus made a commandment to his disciples to love one another as he loved them.
• The main events associated with Holy Thursday include the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus.

Question 3

What happens in the poem?

Answer 3

• It depicts the annual procession of poor children from charity schools in London to St. Paul’s Cathedral for a special service on Holy Thursday (ascension day)

Question 4

Describe the structure of the poem

Answer 4

4 quatrains
ABCB (Fragmented rhyme scheme)
Break down of rhyme scheme- the poet tries to break down our ideas/ values
Ballad/ hymn stanza
Trochaic tetrameter (stressed/ unstressed) Seems upbeat and cheery contrasting the dark subject matter)
Anaphora/ fronted conjunctions
Caesura

Question 5

Describe the language used in the poem

Answer 5

• Emotive language
• Simple lexis
• Harsh allterative lexis (trembling of the childre)
• Omission of rhyming couplet in final stanza (break down of order)
• Rhetorical quetsion
• Anaphora
• Pathetic fallacy (material deprivison)
• synecdoche

Question 6

Symbolic interpretation of the poem

Answer 6

1) Dismisses charity as demeaning intervention into the lives of oppressed classes, an obfuscation through which exploitation is legitimated.
2) Religion as a spectacle, focus on appearance over reality. Potential of humanity vs reality. Critical of ritual rather than mechanics of having a deeper faith.
3) A society that doesn’t provide for everyone is a society that’s working against the natural order,
4) Challenges ideas of Britain as a superpower

Question 7

Influences on the broader context of social and political upheaval in the late 18th century?

Answer 7

• The poem is situated within a context of broader social and political change

Question 8

Britain- social context

Answer 8

• Britain was a powerful country, particularly in terms of its colonial empire, industrialization, and cultural influence.