Holy Thursday (Songs Of Innocence) by William Blake

Holy Thursday

Songs of Innocence

(by William Blake)

"Holy Thursday" depicts the celebrations for Ascension Day. It describes the procession of about six thousand of the poorest children from the charity school's of London into St Paul's cathedral.

• Again we see the theme of innocence, with young children as a symbol of it
• "Innocent faces clean": suggests purity; it perhaps links into the idea that a child is a blank piece of paper unstained by the perils of life
• Comparing the line of children to the waters of the river Themes, "into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow" is perhaps connecting with the property of the rives to follow a certain path that was pre made by other people
• The imagery "flowers of London town" draws a colourful picture in the reader's mind. Together with the colors of the previous stanza it suggests that the children are the decoration of London.
• The last couple of points raise another major theme in this poem. Perhaps William Blake is actually trying to use sarcasm to depict the fact that these children live in poverty and cruelty the entire…