William Blake Holy Thursday

Question 1

When is Holy Thursday and what does it celebrate?

Answer 1

Ascension day- the day before Easter Friday

Question 2

Innocence: what does the repeated use of the “and” in the second line have?

Answer 2

Emphasises how many children there are

Question 3

Innocence: what rhyme scheme is employed?

Answer 3

AABB rhyme scheme links to the rows of children

Question 4

Innocence: What phrase suggests the children have been tidied up for a public occasion?

Answer 4

“Innocent faces clean”

Question 5

Innocence: Who are the “Beadles” and what are they holding in their hands?

Answer 5

The old people and priests, and they’re holding canes

Question 6

Innocence: what is the setting?

Answer 6

St Paul’s Cathedral- the biggest church in London at the time

Question 7

Innocence: can you comment on the verb “hum” on line 7?

Answer 7

The children are talking to themselves

Question 8

Innocence: the reference to what animal might have multiple meanings?

Answer 8

Lamb - innocence and sacrifice

Question 9

Innocence: What is the effect of the simile in line 4?

Answer 9

“The Thames waters flow” - cleanliness, flowing, purity

Question 10

Innocence: what is the effect of the metaphor on line 5?

Answer 10

“Flowers of London Town” - pretty, innocent

Question 11

What is Blake trying to expose about the Church?

Answer 11

They are cleaning children up just for one day so that the church can get more money for themselves

Question 12

Innocence: how are the authority figures portrayed in this poem?

Answer 12

Intimidating, carrying canes, keep them in order

Question 13

Innocence: which words suggest the potential destructive power of the children?

Answer 13

“Thunderings”

Question 14

Innocence: what does the final phrase of the poem refer to - “cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door”

Answer 14

The story of Lot in the bible. Angels would dress up as travellers and Sodom offered them his hospitality. As a result, when the city burns down the angels keep him safe.

Question 15

Innocence: how is the poem structured?

Answer 15

Equal line lengths, four quatrains, AABB rhyme scheme

Question 16

Innocence: “they sit with ____ all their own”

Answer 16

“Radiance”

Question 17

Innocence: “the children walking two in “___ and ____ and ____”

Answer 17

“Red, blue, green”

Question 18

Innocence: “now like a _____ ____ they raise to heaven”

Answer 18

“Mighty wind”

Question 19

Innocence: “”___ them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor”

Answer 19

“Beneath”

Question 20

Innocence: “the ____ of multitudes was there”

Answer 20

“Hum”

Question 21

Innocence: “multitudes of ____”

Answer 21

“Lambs”

Question 22

Innocence: “then ____ pity”

Answer 22

“Cherish”

Question 23

Innocence: what happens in the first stanza?

Answer 23

Children are cleaned up and walking in pairs, following old men into St Paul’s Cathedral

Question 24

Innocence: what happens in the second stanza?

Answer 24

The children are compared to flowers, and then they sit down and raise their hands

Question 25

Innocence: what happens in the final stanza?

Answer 25

The children stand up and start to sing. The old men stay sat down beneath them. Blake makes a reference to the story of Lot in the bible.

Question 26

Experience: What is the opening line?

Answer 26

“Is this a holy thing to see”

Question 27

Experience: what is unusual about the first stanza?

Answer 27

All four lines make up a question

Question 28

Experience: “babes reduced to _____”

Answer 28

“Misery”

Question 29

Experience: What is the question being asked in the first stanza?

Answer 29

If the miserable children living in a rich land should be being fed by a cold and selfish hand

Question 30

Experience: what is the opening line of the second stanza?

Answer 30

“Is that trembling cry a song?”

Question 31

Experience: “and so many ____ poor?”

Answer 31

“Children”

Question 32

Experience: what happens in the second stanza?

Answer 32

The speaker asks if a baby crying is a song of joy, and calls the setting a land of poverty

Question 33

Experience: what happens in the opening line of the third stanza?

Answer 33

“And their sun does never shine”

Question 34

Experience: what is unusual about the punctuation of the third stanza?

Answer 34

Every line ends with a full stop

Question 35

Experience: “their ways are fill’d with ____”

Answer 35

“Thorns”

Question 36

Experience: what happens in the third stanza?

Answer 36

The speaker says that the children’s sun doesn’t shine, their fields are bleak, and their “ways” are full of thorns. He states that they live in after all winter

Question 37

Experience: what is the first lone if the fourth stanza?

Answer 37

“For where-e’er the sun does shine”

Question 38

Experience: “nor ____ the mind appall”

Answer 38

“Poverty”

Question 39

Experience: what happens in the third stanza?

Answer 39

The speaker says that wherever the sun shines and rain falls, babies will never go hungry and poverty will never appall the mind

Question 40

Experience: what is unique about the rhyme scheme?

Answer 40

It begins ABAB, but becomes disjointed, with only the second and fourth lines rhyming