WILLIAM BLAKE: Holy Thursday Songs of Experience

Question 1

‘Is this a holy thing to see’

Answer 1

songs of EXPERIENCE first line = question = ambiguity ironic make aware of corruption

Question 2

‘rich and fruitful’

Answer 2

vibrant wholesome and plentiful

Question 3

usurous hand

Answer 3

charging an exorbitant rate of interest when lending money. Similarly, Beadles expect children to become useful and grateful in return for their care
jesus propitiation is given freely

Question 4

‘and their sun does never shine’

Answer 4

present continuous ‘does’ elongates the sentence relentless nature of realtiy

Question 5

bleak and bare

Answer 5

plosive alliteration

monosyllabism

Question 6

‘thorns’

Answer 6

Instruments of passion employed by JEsus captors to cause pain

Question 7

RHYME SCHEME

Answer 7

• first quatrain ABAB, second stanza less obvious- gradual unapparent change = subtle lapse into apathy from society landing to a place of acceptance of the corruption of the church
• OR subtle change = society cannot see the hypocricy of the Church hidden by the veneer of a polished appearnance
• rhyme scheme builds back to ABAB uncomfrtbale closure, no resolution

Question 8

Interrogative mood

Answer 8

rhetorical questions makes reader feel complicit in the mistreatment of the poor