William Blake's "Holy Thursday"

The poet - William Blake:

William Blake was born on the 28th November 1757 and died on 12th August 1827. He was English, and was a poet, painter and printmaker.

"Blake proclaimed the supremacy of the imagination over the rationalism and materialism of the 18th-century." (http://kirjasto.sci.fi/wblake.htm - Retrieved: 6 March 2011.)

"Holy Thursday" overview:

This poem is about England being such a rich and fruitful country yet the inhabitants are treated terribly, when they don't need to be. The relationship between the landscape and the inhabitants becomes unloving and insensitive.

How has the poem conveyed the relationship between humanity and the landscape?

England, during the 18th century was a flourishing country, yet children as young as 4 years old were forced to work in factories and poverty was common among the people. William Blake questions if this is what we should be seeing. Blake also conveys that the inhabitants ways are insensitive and even border dangerous.

The first stanza demonstrates the binary opposites of the landscape vs. the inhabitants. "In a rich and fruitful land." 'rich' refers to the materialistic possessions that England had and 'fruitful' refers to the success of agriculture and the beauty of the physical landscape. "Babes reduced to misery", the 'misery' is symbolic of young children that were forced into child labour and the connotations of misery, convey that the labour was extremely depressing and hard for the children. "Fed with cold and usurous hand?",  the connotations of the word 'cold' illustrate the unloving and insensitive way that the children are treated. The use of the word 'hand' demonstrates the power adults have on children and how helpless they are. The question mark creates the uncertainty that the persona has in regards to his attitude to the events surrounding him.

The second stanza conveys the persona's understanding of the events surrounding him. "Is that trembling cry a song", this communicates to the responder that the persona has heard the cries, and the onomatopoeia used conveys the terrible sound that the cry is sending out., and emphasises the cries and the pain it contains. "Can it be a song of joy? And so many children poor?", the use of rhetorical questions demonstrates the uncertainty of the persona and that he doesn't understand the treatment of the children, that he is actually questioning it, demonstrates that he wants to understand because in his mind the idea of terrible treatment towards children is tragic. "It is a land of poverty!" This conveys that the persona has understood why all these dreadful events are occurring and has established that it is a land of poverty. This line in the second stanza juxtaposes with the second line of the first stanza "In a rich and fruitful land" as the persona has realised that England does have a beautiful landscape but the treatment of the children and the poverty has made the landscape the extreme opposite of beautiful.

Now, that the persona has come to the realisation that the landscape once thought to be beautiful is now a land of poverty, he describes what he now sees. "And their sun does never shine, and their fields are bleak and bare", the connotations of 'sun' illustrate happiness and bright joy, though the high modality word 'never' indicates that there is never any happiness. The alliteration used in 'bleak and bare' creates a hopeless and sad tone that emphasises how bare the landscape has become. "And their ways are filled with thorns", the word 'thorns' creates visual imagery of sharp points and has connotations of dangerous and harmful. The imagery and connotations demonstrate the dangerous ways of the inhabitants ways, specifically the appalling treatment of children.

The physical landscape of England is beautiful but the industrialisation and the child labour that came hand in hand with that makes the landscape ugly. This is conveyed through various language devices.

Connections between "Holy Thursday" by William Blake, 'The Surfer' by Judith Wright and 'William Street' by Kenneth Slessor.

Physical landscapes are beautiful, but the inhabitants have the ability to make the landscape unlovable and ugly. This is communicated through 'Holy Thursday' by William Blake, 'The Surfer' by Judith Wright and 'William Street' by Kenneth Slessor. This is conveyed through the use of various language devices.

Inhabitants ways can be seen as dangerous to the landscape, due to the ability to ruin the wonderful image of the landscape. This is conveyed through 'Holy Thursday' by William Blake. "And their sun does never shine, and their fields are bleak and bare", the connotations of 'sun' illustrate happiness and bright joy, though the high modality word 'never' indicates that there is never any happiness. The alliteration used in 'bleak and bare' creates a hopeless and sad tone that emphasises how bare the landscape has become. "And their ways are filled with thorns", the word 'thorns' creates visual imagery of sharp points and has connotations of dangerous and harmful.

The inhabitants of the ocean, make the physical landscape dangerous to swim in once the sun goes down. This is demonstrated through 'The Surfer' by Judith Wright. "For on the sand the grey-wolf sea lies snarling", the anthropomorphism of the 'grey wolf sea' conveys the animalistic hunger that the sea and the inhabitants have now that the sun has gone down. It demonstrates the sea as being horrible and ready to engulf the surfer.

 Some landscapes are seen beautiful by some, but not others, it depends on the inhabitants view. This is illustrated through Kenneth Slessor's poem 'William Street.' The repetition of the line "You find this ugly, I find it lovely" at the end of each stanza demonstrates the significance of landscapes as only being seen as beautiful by some. The juxtaposition of 'ugly' and 'lovely' conveys that some inhabitants find beauty in landscapes, while some find the landscape to be ugly.

 Physical landscapes are beautiful, but the inhabitants have the ability to make the landscape unlovable and ugly. This has been illustrated by three wonderful poems through the use of numerous language techniques.