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Holy Thursday

William Blake's poem 'Holy Thursday' critiques the hypocrisy of the church as it parades innocent children from a charity school to a cathedral, presenting a false image of care and happiness. The children, unaware of their exploitation, symbolize innocence amidst the exploitation by the church, which benefits financially from their presence. The poem employs irony and similes to highlight the contrast between the children's perceived joy and their actual plight.

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38 views

Holy Thursday

William Blake's poem 'Holy Thursday' critiques the hypocrisy of the church as it parades innocent children from a charity school to a cathedral, presenting a false image of care and happiness. The children, unaware of their exploitation, symbolize innocence amidst the exploitation by the church, which benefits financially from their presence. The poem employs irony and similes to highlight the contrast between the children's perceived joy and their actual plight.

Uploaded by

marwa.h.ewadh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Holy Thursday: 'Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

1- Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean


2- The children walking two & two in red & blue & green ( children
are green
3- Grey-headed beadles walkd before with wands as white as
snow, ( We have irony that the stick that as hold by the priest,
holding a wide stick does not mean. this line is ironical)
4- Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters
flow. ( they go to this cathedral, the difference between the
church and cathedral: cathedral, more larger than the church and
contain ceremonies, festivals) the significance of the simile in this
line both of them are natural:

5- O what a multitude they seemd these flowers of London town !


seemd: important, they seem to be happy they seem to be clean,
but this is not real, they do not know that they are being exploited
6- Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own . (the
comparison between. There is a light surrounds them. There is an
irony, they are divine, they are exploited, they are innocent.)
7- The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of
lambs (association of children with lambs is significant, their hum
is their speech)
8- Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent
hands ( there is something, no social justice, no charity, because
of the industrial revolution)

9- Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of


song (simile : their song is like a wind)
10- Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven
among (simile)
11- Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor;
(they are in the cathedral now, they passed the street, according
to this order: when the children are innocent and the priests are
hypocrite they are in the real meaning (real order), they are wrong
people, if the priests exploit children that is sent to this charity
school, this statement is ironic, they are neither wise nor
guardians to these children)
12- Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
(cherish pity: as if the poet satirizing the aged men, the priests, he
mock fun of them, lest you drive an angel: if the priests do not to
be kind, students would not to come to these schools, they will
run away, and if the children would not come to the schools, there
would be no financial benefit for the priests, they are hypocrite)

A group of innocent children for a charity school

The occasion of writing the poem, the priests lead these orphan children
from the school to the cathedral for celebration, to give a good
impression that the children are well-cared by those priests.

But in fact this show is hypocritical, by leading the children from the
school to the cathedral (well dressed) just to give impression that those
children are well-cared by the priests, they are not awar of taking of,
because the church finds financial benefit from this school, people give
money to the church to run this school. So this cathedral gives a false
impression, that the children are happy, but this is in fact not true. The
poem shows us the hypocrisy of the church.

Children are innocent here, they are not aware of the exploitation of the
church men. Their faces are clean only in that day, in the rest of the
year, it means that their faces are dirty, but their faces are made clean
intentionally, to give impression that nothing

Form: written in couplets, the poem to make it more musical, more


lyrical than the second poem.

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