Holy Thursday: Songs Of Innocence Flashcards
Key context?
-based on ascension day — jesus’ return to heaven
-children paraded around streets london on way St Paul’s where sing celebrate ascension + get donations from public
-the church exploited the children for their innocence + youthful voices to then keep the donations for themselves
-they only time the children were ‘clean’ was for this day
-highlights the corruption of the church which is a key theme of Blake’s poetry — also explored in ‘london’
-Blake exploiting simplicity + angelic nature of children on surface but this used highlight how innocence is easily exploited
What is the meter of this poem “walking two & two in red & white & blue”
-iambic heptameter — skipping beat
-like nursery rhyme — reflect children happily skipping to sing + celebrate ascension unknowing of their exploitation
-children too young understand it + so taken advantage of which highlights church corruption explored in ‘london’
-also highlights control as children waking specific way + wearing bright colours
-church also outs themselves before children highlighting selfish attitude + wanting money for themselves
What does the juxtaposition between ‘grey’ + ‘white suggest in second line of first stanza
-‘grey’ connotes misery, spite, crudeness + death
-‘white’ connotes angelic nature, purity, innocence, kindness
-the ‘beadles’ put on facade to not reveal their true intentions with the children + true treatments towards the children
-‘wands as white as snow’ — simile highlights white purity facade they hide behind + metaphor alludes to how in reality the children are beaten by these ‘wands’
-they keep order through abuse
What is the contrast between ‘white’ and the ‘Thames’
-‘Thames’ water murky, used for sewage, dirty, plagued by faeces + horrific
-reinforces facade of kindness from the ‘beadles’ as in reality they are like the water leading/flowing the children to their exploitation
What does ‘like the Thames water does flow’
-simile — suggests/hints as the masses of children that are being exploited for money as Thames stretches all across london
-suggests children’s purity tarnished as before ind rev the Thames was beautiful but due to smog etc it is now tainted + murky like children before exploitation were pure but now tarnished by church corruption
Rhyming couplets ABAB ‘clean’ + ‘green’ etc.
-symbolises innocence
-single/direct ideas of exploiting childhood innocence due to Blake’s belief of individual freedom
Repetition of ‘multitiudes’
-highlights just how many children there were + true extent of exploitation they were exposed to
-also extent of church corruption - no going back to a time of peace + respect
What do the quatrains suggest + the tonal shifts from stanza to stanza
-4 stanzas of four lines (quatrains)
-ordered structure reflect the ordered corruption of the church
-concise stanzaic form represent the prescribed discipline + order within the charity schools Blake critiques
-tonal shifts —reflect underlying critique societal attitudes to the needy e.g. seemingly blissful sentiment in the first stanza gives way to a more stern and critical tone in the third stanza.
Symbolic imagery in ‘flowers of london town’
-the vibrancy + vitality of children against the dull polluted backdrop of london
-symbolised children’s innocence + beauty amidst morally polluted society
-contrasts to description of their ‘guardians’ as “beadles” — oppressive authority figures
-beautiful elements of nature (flowers) contrasted to corrupt + smog polluted london
-children tainted, tarnished + ruined by society/the church
What does ‘multitudes of lambs’ symbolise
-lambs typically symbols of god, purity + rebirth but also sacrificial elements to them
-lambs traditionally raised for slaughter/exploitation
-their soul purpose in life is to die for selfish people to benefit from
-alludes to children being raised to be exploited — their soul purpose is to make ‘beadles’ money by singing + getting donations
Analysis of ‘like a mighty wind, they raise to heaven the voice of song’
-when sing children no longer vulnerable + fragile but acquire force that enables them communicate with god to ask him for help from corruot church
-children singing a beautiful image but tainted + scarred by church due to exploitations
-church supposed embody god + heaven but instead embody the devil + devilish actions of parading children for selfish desires
What does the oxymoronic simile ‘like harmonious thunderings’ symbolise
-Blake suggesting unity of youths has power of a storm against corruption of the church
-their voices are beautiful + harmonious but contain a power that would be able to ride up against the corruption
What does the last line suggest - ‘cherish pity, jest you drive an angel from your door’
-alluding to how youth could in fact grow up to be future of church
-so to shut your doors to them is denying them that future + condemning them to a cruel + exploitative filled lifestyle
Key context of Blake within this poem as a romantic poet
-idealisation of women + children
-championing personal freedom
-romantic movement propelled forward in response to eng Ind rev which not only exploited women + children but also destroyed environment with pollution
-poem a response to Ind rev + corruption of church
