Analysis of Holy Thursday

      Holy Thursday is a poem written by William Blake, taken from Songs of Innocence.

’Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean,

The children walking two & two in red & blue & green,

Grey headed beadles walk’d before with wands as white as snow,

Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow.

O what a multitude they seem’d these flowers of London town!

Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own.

The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs,

Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song.

Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heavens among.

Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor;

Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

      Holy Thursday is more then the average entertaining poem; it is written to be a display of innocence. In the first stanza Blake writes about London on Holy Thursday (Ascension Day), where parishioners celebrate the fortieth day after the resurrection of Christ. On this day “grey headed beadles” guide rows of cleaned orphans, dressed and happy, into St. Paul church. These children are the ultimate example of innocence.

      Blake describes the children in the second stanza as “flowers of London town”, comparing the orphans to something as treasured as a flower. By doing this he is emphasizing the beauty and feebleness the children have, and banishing the assumed thought that the children are worthless and a trouble. In the third line of the second stanza Blake speaks of the children as metaphoric “lambs”, the lamb is the symbol of Christ, linking the children to the lamb of God. This is how Blake subtly expresses Jesus’ special love a care for all children.

      All citizens of London gather in the cathedral, to sit and observe the ceremony. In the third stanza the people watch the boys and girls raise their “innocent hands” to the Lord and sing to heaven. Blake describes the act to show the change in the children, they are no longer meek and mild; they are strong, and their voices are able to reach up to God and speak to heaven. The aged men seated below the children observe the powerful innocent act, and are touched. The speaker is also moved by the heartbreaking image of the mass, and reminds the reader that orphans like these are actually angels of God.

      William Blake wrote this song as a take on orphans who would clean up and march annually to church to sing. The children perceived this as a treat, which is an example of their innocent and bleak lives. It illustrates their innocence in the fact that they are orphans, poor and meek, with absolutely nothing, yet they get dressed, attend church with happiness, and praise the Lord. Once again Blake is teaching a sad lesson, a lesson many of today’s children should learn.

This is what I would picture the view of the mass would be for the orphans.