FINDING THE TRUE MEANING IN WILLIAM BLAKE’S “HOLY THURSDAY

William Blakes main point in his poem consecrate atomic number 90 is that the innocent baberen of England are being used and employ by the perform to display its charity and assuage the guilt of the rich. These unfortunate person children live in severe and abject need with no way out except by working themselves to destruction in Englands child labor industries. The parade of these children to the perform building on Holy thorium is a disguise of the abuse that these children become. It is a false display of charity presented by the church for the acquire of the church and the rich alike. It postures the children as recipients of the benign goodness of the church when in reality the appalling conditions under which the children have to suffer day in and day out is never communicate or alleviated by those directly or indirectly responsible for the childrens well-being. These children have no way out of their quandary except by dying. The only thing the church is refer about is staging its pretty charity show and deceiving the bide of the world to the justness of the childrens plight. The rich only have concerns for the event that their industries need the child labor these short(p) ones brush aside supply. The wealthy have no thought to the occurrence that these children, under pathetic working conditions, will draw their last breath of animateness in their factories and mines. To establish the fact that these children are truly exploited by the wealthy and used for the churches own agenda I wish to cite examples from William Blakes poem Holy Thursday to exhaustively substantiate this statement (51).

Blake considers it an outrage that a country that is much(prenominal) a rich and fruitful land as England could cease its children to live and be treated in such a deplorable manner (l. 2). How can England be called rich when there are multitudes of unforesightful children living there? In truth it seems ¦ so many children poor?/It is a land of poverty! (l. 7-8).

These children live in a world bereft of sunninesslight, their lives so miserable they are in a state of ceaseless winter (l. 12). The holiness of the gathering of the children at St. Pauls Cathedral is in question Is this a holy think to see/¦Babes cut back to misery, (ll. 1-3). We see that there is nothing holy in the Holy Thursday service at St Pauls Cathedral for the poor children. It is a service which shows us thousands of children at the severest poverty level practical paraded before people that care absolutely nothing for their welfare. Celebrations of sun and rain down cannot be for these children ¦their sun does never shine/And their palm are bleak & bare (ll. 9-10). These children are forever celebrating hunger, a hunger Fed with cold and usurous hand? (l. 4). The church places the children on exhibit to show the people how much concern the church has for the childrens welfare and their religious upbringing, but the church in fact does little to really help these children at all.

They have little to be cheerful about and nothing to sing gleeful about as can be seen in the indite Is that trembling cry a song?/Can it be a song of joy?/And so many children poor? (ll. 5-7).



The only prospect that awaits them is toil in a persistent industry so that the wealthy can increase their coffers for ¦ their ways are filld with thorns; (l. 11).

They have an empty future with no look transport to of overcoming the poverty they live in and nothing to look forward to except an early grave earned from brutal child labor. The only release from the hell that they live in can be seen in the following verse:                  For where-eer the sun does shine,                  And where-eer the rain does fall,                  Babe can never hunger there,                  Nor poverty the wit appall. (ll. 13-15) This way to heaven is their only release from a life story of sorrow and misery, as well as, a liberation from the safekeeping of those that use and exploit them. Namely the rich and the church officials responsible for their well being.

William Blakes poem Holy Thursday expounds on the ruthlessness and neglect of the poor children of England. It brings attention to their exploitation and abuse by the very people responsible for their protection and comfort namely, the church and the rich. I have cited many examples from the poem Holy Thursday providing evidence to the validity of these statements.

Works Cited Blake, William. Holy Thursday. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. seventh ed. vol 2. Eds. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Norton, 2000. 51.

If you want to get a full essay, instal it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



If you want to get a full essay, wisit our page: write my paper