In verse three Blake ends the poem saying that children like to sing, dance and play but that doesn’t after the fact that adults who have made him into a little child, have hurt him. “They think, they have done me no injury,” But they have. The adults have behaved as though nothing was wrong, and continued to go church, praising god, priest and king. Blake’s last line is his comment on roles of the church and government, who he considers have equally badly, by allowing defenceless children to do their kind of job and made the children’s life a misery. “Who have made up a heaven of our misery” (paradox) and yet these adults seem able to continue their lives and forget the dilemma of the children.
In the poem “London” William Blake makes a political statement about London.
“I wondered throu’ each charter’d street” he is leisurely walks through the streets of London. “Charter’d” is to be on the map. Blake is making an attack on the establishment, he is blaming the government for the fact that people living in London at this time have been worn down by the system, making them weak, burnt out and powerless. “Marks of weakness marks of woe”
In verse two.
“In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
Mind-forg’d manacles I hear”
There is repetition, shows that they are suffering. Blake is explaining how every body is crying because of their life style, even though there still working because there are poorly paid and families were big. They are trapped in manacles. People’s minds were forged kept in heavy metal padlocks. They were not allowed to be free and had no privileges. Blake also talks about slaves being chained up for minor offences. They cannot move freely because of the heavy padlocks, which they wore too keep them imprisoned.
In verse three:
“How the chimney sweeper cry
Every blanking church appalls
And the hapless soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down palace walls”
The chimneys were swept by children, often getting stuck. The black dust got into lungs also killed the children. The church was appalled by the number of death from the chimney. It was a ‘black’ mark on society to allow death to occur from such an awful inhumane job. It reflects on the church, because the church bell rings every time when someone died. There is hypocrisy as the church is linked to the government and the church doesn’t do any thing to stop this pain, even though they are against cruelty.
He sighs his unhappiness and depletion of his life as a soldier. An important role it may be, but it is not his choice, so his life is spent running the blood down the wall of rich, selfish kings and government.
“but most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot’s curse
Blast the new born infants tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse”
In the last stanza, the poet sees and hears the cries of the young women for the birth of their babies. They would be unhappy about the poor, sad lives these children will have, and they will also regret their birth. Their curses would be directed towards the plague and illness which would ruin their lives, by taking away their husbands in early death, being a dying culture. Also the “Harlot curse” would be transmitted to their babies, and also the married partners. Blake is emphasizing that the poor have to be prostitutes to make money. William is highlighting that the prostitutes are a curse because they can cause STD (sexually transmitted disease) to the client they are dealing with. It can also be the curse the prostitutes have because they can get beaten up and can get pregnant. He is also trying to say when the prostitute does gets pregnant then the baby will be of no importance to the prostitute, it is just another mouth to feed.
Lastly Holy Thursday (Innocence) talks about a yearly gathering on Maundy Thursday, all the children have to go to St Paul church to thank God for their school. But really they are thanking god for the misery, suffering, sadness and torment which the teachers have given them.
I am going to describe the first stanza.
Children normally get dirty and messy but Blake says that their faces are clean. This shows us that they are not free individuals and they are being controlled. The children are forced to walk in twos, marching together, being controlled over what they wear and how they walk. “The grey headed beadles” are the old headmasters who smack children for a living.
The “wands as white as snow” (alliteration), the wand is a cane sign of strict discipline. Blake also talks about the children are in one block, “in continuous flow”. These shows how strict the teachers are and how there lives are controlled.
In the second stanza Blake talks about the amount of children in the church, “multitude” which is a metaphor. Blake sees something that shines inside them which makes them lovely, “sit with radiance all their own”. I think he’s saying that all the children are independent and how they are all innocent and how they glow like angles.
The last stanza is when they sing like angles: it is as if they belong in heaven. In the third line Blake says “wise Guardians.” Here he’s being ironic, because he means the opposite. They think they are wise, but Blake doesn’t. Perhaps it’s the best they can do: Blake’s hope is the children still can shine and blossom.
The poem London is like a political statement. Blake is telling the government and citizens how London is burnt out. However Holy Thursday suggest that children should be free and do adventurous things, get dirty and scream with excitement, but they are kept under strict supervision, which does not let them be curious. On the same idea “The Chimney Sweeper” is also about children, who are neglected by parents as well as teachers. They have to do the dirty work and go down chimneys.
William Blake chose to criticise the Church and the wealthy, including the priests and the King. Blake chose to criticise the priest and King for not noticing and accepting the bad environment the poor are living in. Blake doesn't like the Priest and Church for not caring for the poor, even though they worship God and the Priest, it is unfair. Blake thought very highly of children, he felt sorry for the children who became chimney sweeping. He states this many times in his poetry. He thought that the children were the future and that they shouldn't be treated like dirt. They shouldn't get starved for hunger, the wealthy should have looked after the children, but they didn't. The children didn't get any importance then. Blake wanted the rich to know the suffering and pain they have put the poor side through.
This povety is also happening in the world now and William Blake now helps the world relise that there is povety in the world, and also emphasizes to care for he poor.
