Blake
Context
● Saw the spiritual, natural and human world as one and was inspired by all of them.
● Religious but rejected Church of England (both from corruption/moral perspective,
and from a belief perspective as he was raised dissenting)
● Antiauthoritarian
● His visions inspired his perception of reality as he thought they showed the ‘true’
reality.
Holy Thursday Innocence
Religious disillusionment
● Disrupted rhyme (town and own) = discordance between performativity of the church
and their neglect of the children
● Biblical references (“two and two” and “lest you drive an angel from your door” - Lot)
further idea that Blake doesn’t criticise religion itself but the corrupt and cruel Church
○ Urges reader to question hypocrisy of caretakers by parallelling them with
biblical figures
○ “two and two” is a reference to Noah’s Ark - perhaps suggests children are
treated like animals. The innocent and jovial rhythm and simple language
therefore contrasts the underlying cruelty - reflects the state of the church and
children
● “wise guardians of the poor” - said with irony - criticises people who take advantage
of children’s poverty to elevate themselves socially
○ He was antiauthoritarian, educated at home and didn’t believe in
mistreatment of children
● Blake wasn’t an atheist but disagreed with the corruption and performativity of the
church
Corruption of values/ morality vs immorality
● Links to religious disillusionment
● Corruption of christian values in treatment of children - “wands as white as snow” -
alliteration of gentle sounds, imagery of white (innocence) and fact wands could be
canes (symbolise oppression) - the performative image of care contrasts with the
hidden cruelty beneath the facade
● Immorality of the guardians vs innocence and purity of children - “multitudes of
lambs”
○ Biblical reference of “lambs” conveys the defencelessness and innocence of
the children -> “multitudes” could suggest idea of power in their numbers,
therefore suggesting possibility of them taking control in the future. Also
indictment in itself because there shouldn’t be such a high number of children
living in poverty
● The conditions in the children’s home is hellish but is presented to the public as if
their treatment is charitable and kind, which highlights the hypocrisy
, ○ “innocent faces clean” could allude to Dante washing his face after he came
out of hell
Purity and childhood
● Opening line has a storytelling quality (“Twas on a Holy Thursday”) which create a
feeling of a nursery rhyme (emphasised by structure and simple rhymes) - this
immature simplicity is reiterated by the vibrancy of “red & blue & green”, suggesting
the children themselves are pure and naive - it’s their environment which is corrupted
● Contamination of youthful purity: “their innocent faces clean”. The mention of it
suggests this is a rare occurrence, conveying the neglect the children suffer on other
days. The literal idea of cleanliness could also allude to a moral cleanliness,
suggesting the Church is attempting to portray a false image of purity - their
treatment of the children is performative (critique of charity schools)
○ The blame for this corruption is laid at the feet of the Church through the
juxtaposition of the vibrancy with “grey headed” beadles - their morality is not
as clean as the children’s. Also sterile and heartless, suggesting the children
are treated with neglect and no kindness
Holy Thursday Experience
Religious disillusionment
● “Is this a holy thing to see” - opening is accusatory, forces reader to question the
corruption of christian values in England (Marxist perspective)
● Draws parallel between children and Christ pre-crucifixion - crown of thorns, “their
ways are fill’d with thorns”
○ Perversion of religious values has lead to most vulnerable suffering at the
hands of society
○ Natural imagery suggests that nature itself has turned against them - they
have no allies and face difficulty from everywhere
● “It is eternal winter there.” suggests the cruelty is against nature and God, as it has
caused the natural order to be subverted. Simple sentence reinforces his point -
unarguable. Literal meaning of winter conveys the fact they’re starving (as food
cannot grow).
Justice
● “where-e’er the sun does shine,...Babe can never hunger there”
○ Emotive language of “Babe” makes dire situation more unignorable,
emphasises their helplessness (therefore suggests the reader must help
them)
● Accusatory tone emphasised by repeated rhetorical questions - railing against
society for equality and justice
London
Suffering
● Links with inequality - disenfranchisement is an undercurrent
● “every cry of every Man” and anaphora of “In every”
○ Blake’s marxism - criticises system where unequal suffering of the poor can
occur
, ○ Depersonalisation reflects widespread suffering and draws attention to how
soc. dehumanises poor who are already treated inhumanely
● Epitomises London - paired w image of “Thames” suggests suffering is inextricable
from country and political system (disillusionment)
○ Disillusionment in religion - “black’ning Church appalls” - corrupted
Christianity allows this to happen
■ AO3: Was antiauthoritarian and disagreed with corruption of the
church
■ Marxist idea of religion as a tool of oppression
○ Criticises English politics
● Harlot, solider + chimney sweep all suffer and sacrifice their bodies in service of a
country that abandons them
Social inequality
● Visceral imagery of “runs in blood down palace walls” removes theoretical element to
inequality
○ Confronts reader w graphic reality of life in the city as lower class
○ Reflects French Rev. and criticises brutality of monarchy as symbolic of social
inequality
● Figures in last 2 stanzas are exploited by society
○ Doesn’t prioritise state of the individual - anti romanticist view
○ Inescapable cycle of “Harlot’s curse” represents cycle of poverty
The Sick Rose
Destructive love/attention
● Secrecy leads to control - “dark secret love”
○ Rose can’t escape - “thy bed” is stationary and she’s planted - more
vulnerable
○ Idea of forbidden pleasures leading to the fall of man - worm’s corruption
could reflect Snake’s temptation in Genesis
○ Could be interpreted that the true sin is the stigmatisation and repression of
sexuality
● Dichotomy between pleasure and danger
○ “crimson joy” has connotations of lust and passion, vs danger, blood, shame.
Could represent male vs female perception
● Unreciprocated destruction - patriarchy and stigmatisation of female sexuality
○ Final sentence emphasises finality of the effect on the victim
○ Only her life is destroyed -
■ AO3: Blake (advocate for free love) criticises social institutions as
symbolic of repression and criticises the inequality in only punishing
women for sexuality.
■ Due to the oppression from religious and societal forces - reinforces
Marxist interpretation
Inequality
● Corruption of innocence (loss of virginity in “crimson joy”) by worm (phallic symbol)
● Prostitute (Rose) is the victim
Context
● Saw the spiritual, natural and human world as one and was inspired by all of them.
● Religious but rejected Church of England (both from corruption/moral perspective,
and from a belief perspective as he was raised dissenting)
● Antiauthoritarian
● His visions inspired his perception of reality as he thought they showed the ‘true’
reality.
Holy Thursday Innocence
Religious disillusionment
● Disrupted rhyme (town and own) = discordance between performativity of the church
and their neglect of the children
● Biblical references (“two and two” and “lest you drive an angel from your door” - Lot)
further idea that Blake doesn’t criticise religion itself but the corrupt and cruel Church
○ Urges reader to question hypocrisy of caretakers by parallelling them with
biblical figures
○ “two and two” is a reference to Noah’s Ark - perhaps suggests children are
treated like animals. The innocent and jovial rhythm and simple language
therefore contrasts the underlying cruelty - reflects the state of the church and
children
● “wise guardians of the poor” - said with irony - criticises people who take advantage
of children’s poverty to elevate themselves socially
○ He was antiauthoritarian, educated at home and didn’t believe in
mistreatment of children
● Blake wasn’t an atheist but disagreed with the corruption and performativity of the
church
Corruption of values/ morality vs immorality
● Links to religious disillusionment
● Corruption of christian values in treatment of children - “wands as white as snow” -
alliteration of gentle sounds, imagery of white (innocence) and fact wands could be
canes (symbolise oppression) - the performative image of care contrasts with the
hidden cruelty beneath the facade
● Immorality of the guardians vs innocence and purity of children - “multitudes of
lambs”
○ Biblical reference of “lambs” conveys the defencelessness and innocence of
the children -> “multitudes” could suggest idea of power in their numbers,
therefore suggesting possibility of them taking control in the future. Also
indictment in itself because there shouldn’t be such a high number of children
living in poverty
● The conditions in the children’s home is hellish but is presented to the public as if
their treatment is charitable and kind, which highlights the hypocrisy
, ○ “innocent faces clean” could allude to Dante washing his face after he came
out of hell
Purity and childhood
● Opening line has a storytelling quality (“Twas on a Holy Thursday”) which create a
feeling of a nursery rhyme (emphasised by structure and simple rhymes) - this
immature simplicity is reiterated by the vibrancy of “red & blue & green”, suggesting
the children themselves are pure and naive - it’s their environment which is corrupted
● Contamination of youthful purity: “their innocent faces clean”. The mention of it
suggests this is a rare occurrence, conveying the neglect the children suffer on other
days. The literal idea of cleanliness could also allude to a moral cleanliness,
suggesting the Church is attempting to portray a false image of purity - their
treatment of the children is performative (critique of charity schools)
○ The blame for this corruption is laid at the feet of the Church through the
juxtaposition of the vibrancy with “grey headed” beadles - their morality is not
as clean as the children’s. Also sterile and heartless, suggesting the children
are treated with neglect and no kindness
Holy Thursday Experience
Religious disillusionment
● “Is this a holy thing to see” - opening is accusatory, forces reader to question the
corruption of christian values in England (Marxist perspective)
● Draws parallel between children and Christ pre-crucifixion - crown of thorns, “their
ways are fill’d with thorns”
○ Perversion of religious values has lead to most vulnerable suffering at the
hands of society
○ Natural imagery suggests that nature itself has turned against them - they
have no allies and face difficulty from everywhere
● “It is eternal winter there.” suggests the cruelty is against nature and God, as it has
caused the natural order to be subverted. Simple sentence reinforces his point -
unarguable. Literal meaning of winter conveys the fact they’re starving (as food
cannot grow).
Justice
● “where-e’er the sun does shine,...Babe can never hunger there”
○ Emotive language of “Babe” makes dire situation more unignorable,
emphasises their helplessness (therefore suggests the reader must help
them)
● Accusatory tone emphasised by repeated rhetorical questions - railing against
society for equality and justice
London
Suffering
● Links with inequality - disenfranchisement is an undercurrent
● “every cry of every Man” and anaphora of “In every”
○ Blake’s marxism - criticises system where unequal suffering of the poor can
occur
, ○ Depersonalisation reflects widespread suffering and draws attention to how
soc. dehumanises poor who are already treated inhumanely
● Epitomises London - paired w image of “Thames” suggests suffering is inextricable
from country and political system (disillusionment)
○ Disillusionment in religion - “black’ning Church appalls” - corrupted
Christianity allows this to happen
■ AO3: Was antiauthoritarian and disagreed with corruption of the
church
■ Marxist idea of religion as a tool of oppression
○ Criticises English politics
● Harlot, solider + chimney sweep all suffer and sacrifice their bodies in service of a
country that abandons them
Social inequality
● Visceral imagery of “runs in blood down palace walls” removes theoretical element to
inequality
○ Confronts reader w graphic reality of life in the city as lower class
○ Reflects French Rev. and criticises brutality of monarchy as symbolic of social
inequality
● Figures in last 2 stanzas are exploited by society
○ Doesn’t prioritise state of the individual - anti romanticist view
○ Inescapable cycle of “Harlot’s curse” represents cycle of poverty
The Sick Rose
Destructive love/attention
● Secrecy leads to control - “dark secret love”
○ Rose can’t escape - “thy bed” is stationary and she’s planted - more
vulnerable
○ Idea of forbidden pleasures leading to the fall of man - worm’s corruption
could reflect Snake’s temptation in Genesis
○ Could be interpreted that the true sin is the stigmatisation and repression of
sexuality
● Dichotomy between pleasure and danger
○ “crimson joy” has connotations of lust and passion, vs danger, blood, shame.
Could represent male vs female perception
● Unreciprocated destruction - patriarchy and stigmatisation of female sexuality
○ Final sentence emphasises finality of the effect on the victim
○ Only her life is destroyed -
■ AO3: Blake (advocate for free love) criticises social institutions as
symbolic of repression and criticises the inequality in only punishing
women for sexuality.
■ Due to the oppression from religious and societal forces - reinforces
Marxist interpretation
Inequality
● Corruption of innocence (loss of virginity in “crimson joy”) by worm (phallic symbol)
● Prostitute (Rose) is the victim
