Romantic Poetry: Blake

Question 1

What are the Blake poems?

Answer 1

Holy Thursday (SoI), Holy Thursday (SoE), The Sick Rose, The Tyger, London

Question 2

What were the key themes that Blake wrote about?

Answer 2

Childhood, nature, innocence vs. experience, religion, freedom vs. restriction.

Question 3

What themes are relevant to Blake’s SOI (Holy Thursday?

Answer 3

Religion (institutionalised)
Innocence vs Corruption (experience
Nature
Childhood
Restriction

Question 4

What are the most important aspects of SOI (Holy Thursday) Structure?

Answer 4

Simple ABAB rhyme scheme- reflects the didactic rhymes of the period (instructional pamphlets issued to children)
- 3 Quatrains- Holy Trinity

Structural build up=’Hum’ transitions to a ‘song- ‘raise to heaven the voice of song’ to represent their power. This is the power of the collective voice of children.
Asyndetic List: ‘Red and Blue and Green’ - Contributes to childish rhythm, in a simple manner understood by the reader’s intellect.

Question 5

What themes are relevant to Blake’s Holy Thursday (SoE)?

Answer 5

Innocence vs. experience
Freedom vs. restriction(?)
Nature
Childhood

Question 6

What themes are relevant to Blake’s The Sick Rose?

Answer 6

Corruption
Freedom vs. restriction
Nature
Innocence vs. experience

Question 7

What themes are relevant to Blake’s The Tyger?

Answer 7

Creation
Religion
Freedom vs. restriction/oppression
Rebellion

Question 8

What can you say about the structure of Holy Thursday (SoE)?

Answer 8

• 4 quatrains
• ABCB rhyme scheme: mimics the structure of most poems at the time, which were meant for children and were heavily didactic
• Uses many rhetorical questions: speaker is asking how society came to be in this state and calling for change to a better way of life for everyone
• “And” is repeated several times at the start of lines: as if the speaker is constantly noticing more and more that needs to be fixed/changed
• One exclamative “It is a land of poverty!”: more emotive, stated as a fact in contrast to the widely-held belief of the time that London was a grand city full of prosperity and opportunity.

Question 9

What is the significance of the final stanza?
"For wherever the sun does shine,
And wherever the rain does fall:
Babe can never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appall."

Answer 9

• Imagery of “sun” and “rain”: nature being used as a source of solace from the injustice of the industrialised London at the time (typical 1st generation Romantic attitude, valuing the natural world over the human world)
• “appall”: conveys the speaker’s sense of anger and disdain that children are neglected, marginalised and forced to live in poverty
• “Babe can never hunger there”: shows Blake’s admiration for children. He understands that these children who are being forgotten and excluded are the future of the city.

Question 10

What is the significance of the final stanza?
"For wherever the sun does shine,
And wherever the rain does fall:
Babe can never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appall."

Answer 10

• Imagery of “sun” and “rain”: nature being used as a source of solace from the injustice of the industrialised London at the time (typical 1st generation Romantic attitude, valuing the natural world over the human world)
• “appall”: conveys the speaker’s sense of anger and disdain that children are neglected, marginalised and forced to live in poverty
• “Babe can never hunger there”: shows Blake’s admiration for children. He understands that these children who are being forgotten and excluded are the future of the city.

Question 11

Describe the use of levelling in ‘SoI’(Holy Thursday)

Answer 11

Reflects the superiority of the children in their religion
‘Till into the high dome of Pauls they like thames waters flow’

‘Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor’
Contrast s view of children at the time as beneath adults. To be seen and not heard, and used as cheap labour.
Blake physically levels them through their stature and the metaphor of ‘mighty wind’ and ‘harmonious thunderings’