Holy Thursday (Innocence) - William Blake Flashcards
When were songs of Innocence printed?
1789
What does Blake describe songs of innocence and experience to be?
“The two contrary states of the human soul”
What Societal change was Blake in the midst of?
Industrial Revolution
When was the IR?
1760-1830
What was Blakes view on religion?
-Hostile to organised religion> not an atheist as still spiritual
What is Holy Thursday?
-Ascension day > Charity schools of London take part in a celebration service at St Paul’s cathedral
What are Charity schools?
-Funded by public donations
-Care for and educate orphans
What does the Speaker want the reader to consider?
-Ideas like pity and mercy
-How the result of pity is institutionalised charity which conceals a regime of neglect and abuse.
What is the meter of the poem?
-Iambic heptameter
-Anapaest in line 8
What is the significance of Iambic heptameter and Anapaest?
-Iambic heptameter > Long pulsing lines evoke what they describe: a seemingly endless parade of orphans/ the endless corruption of the church that goes on behind closed doors.
-Anapest > creates rumbly rhythm which could reflect the irregular and eerie feeling surrounding the event
What is the form of the poem?
-Three quatrains
-Rhymed couplets > feels like an innocent nursery rhyme
What is the rhyme of the poem?
-Rhyming couplet > nursery rhyme
-Simplicity of the rhyme scheme is deceptive
What is the significance of the simplicity of the rhyme scheme?
The poem suggests the speaker’s society often tells simplistic, self-congratulatory stories about charity and religion - excuses itself from thinking about the underlying causes of poverty and suffering
What is significant about the Title?
-Religious satire >didactic social commentary of the church
“Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean”
-Removal of children’s individuality
-Not actually clean
-Clean on the outside reflects outward appearance of the church
