In contrast to these, TOCB uses metaphors of nature to depict a romanticised view of the old mans poverty, as if through rose tinted glasses. He gives a melancholic view of how the beggar gains food and money. His bag is ‘white with flour the dole of village dames’ (L 9). How the ‘Horseman-traveller does not throw / with careless hand his alms upon the ground, / But stops, that he may safely lodge the coin / within the old man’s hat;’ (L’s 26-29). These pastoral qualities give a sense of harmony to the beggar’s travels and there is a sense of accord amongst the villagers as they help him on his way. The woman who operates the tollgate ‘if on the road she sees / The aged Beggar coming, quits her work, / And lifts the latch for him that he may pass.’ (L’s 34–36). This is accentuated by the repetition of ‘Then let him pass’ (L’s155&164). Wordsworth was scathing of workhouses, being ‘deeply opposed to the whole concept of institutionalised charity’ (notes p.423 Romantic Writings: An Anthology). The beggar is not institutionalised, therefore is free to go where he chooses. The poet dominates the poem throughout, giving his romanticised views of what he sees. He uses such phrases as ‘I saw an aged beggar’ (L1) and ‘Him from my childhood have I known’ (L22), the ‘I’ denoting his involvement in this poem. He presents a case for other people, with how humble the villagers feel when they give to the beggar; even though they can ill afford it. The poet’s involvement does give a sense of authenticity to the poem; his views are from his personal experience. However, because it is from his perspective, it is as he sees it and not actually how things might be. We don’t have the beggar’s point of view at all on whether he is happy to wander the countryside, begging for his food. It’s as if the poet is telling us a story about someone he knew, using such statements as ‘Him from my childhood have I known, and then/He was so old, he seems not older now;’(L’s 22/23). The repetition of ‘aged beggar’ accentuates the fact that he is an old man, qualified by ‘Him even the slow-pac’d wagon leaves behind’ (L66) and ‘he plies his weary journey’ (L53). Such lines form a harmonious image of the old man as he wanders through the countryside.
In opposition, HTSI depicts the treatment of the poor as very orderly, almost regimental. ‘The children walking two and two in red and blue and green;’ (L2), conjures up images of soldiers marching off to war! Compared to this, HTSE describes the mistreatment of poor children, offering no answer to their poverty. The title ‘Holy Thursday’ provokes a sense of religion, but HTSE disappoints the expectations of the reader.
In TOCB, the poet appeals to the ‘Statesmen’ (L67) who seek to ‘rid the world of nuisances’ (L70), to see good in the beggar, to ‘deem him not/A burthen on the earth’ (L’s 72/73). It seems the poet is addressing those utilitarians who are attempting to reform the ‘poor laws’ by ‘forcing beggars into workhouses’ (notes p.423 Romantic Writings: An Anthology). He emphasises how the villagers benevolently give to the old beggar, a woman ‘though pressed herself / by her own wants, she from her chest of meal / takes one unsparing handful for the scrip / of this old mendicant’ (L’s 149-152). The villagers are sympathetic to the needs of this old man, as ‘thus he creeps /from door to door’ (L’s 79/80) and ‘mild necessity of use compels / to acts of love’ (L’s 91/92). Giving to him satisfies their desire to feel needed. In opposition to this viewpoint, HTSI tries to qualify the belief that the institutions were the best place for the poor, keeping everything orderly, as stated with ‘seated in companies’ (L6) and ‘multitudes of lambs’ (L7). HTSE challenges this by painting a picture of misery, with ‘It is a land of poverty’ (L8), ‘their fields are bleak and bare’ (L10) and ‘their ways are filled with thorns’ (L11). This poem evokes emotions of the misery of the workhouse and of poverty itself.
In TOCB, the poet expresses his viewpoint that the beggar is better off not going into a workhouse, as shown by ‘May never house, misnamed of industry/Make him a captive’ (L’s 172/173). The word ‘solitary’ repeated several times throughout all three stanzas evokes feelings of unhappiness, although this appears to be contradicted by the passiveness of the villagers, and from the poet’s descriptions of the submissive image of the beggar. It is a romantic poem, pervaded by the ideas and pastoral images of the poet, with his ‘wild unpeopled hills’ (L14) and ‘of fields with rural works, of hill & dale’ (L49). HTSI on the other hand refers to city life, with ‘the high dome of St.Paul’s’ (L4), and ‘these flowers of London town’ (L5), flower here used as an analogy to depict the children. Compared to this, HTSE uses images of nature in a negative sense, portraying doom and gloom, as ‘their sun does never shine’ (L9) and their fields are bleak and bare’ (L10).
In comparing the content of these three poems, they each have differing attitudes to how charity is given. HTSI seems to offer an answer to poverty, by housing the poor in charitable workhouses, and believing this to be the answer. HTSE though, seems to be offering no answer, but questioning ‘so many children poor?’(L7), then adding ‘It is a land of poverty!’(L8). In effect, this poem states that workhouses are not the answer, but actually add to the misery with the children being mistreated.
There is a contrast in the significance of organised charitable schemes within the two ‘Holy Thursday’ poems. Whereas the beggar in ‘The Old Cumberland Beggar’ appears to be content with his freedom and his charitable handouts. But is he happy? There is nothing in this poem to suggest otherwise; there again, we don’t actually have the beggars own viewpoint.
In Blake’s HTSI, he is portraying how the ‘Charity School service in 1788’ was seen to be contributing in ‘helping to nurture a future generation’ and how highly ‘praised the worthy patrons’ were. (Notes p.414 Romantic Writings: An Anthology). Yet in HTSE, he is giving a more honest picture of how ‘the treatment of children in many schools was appalling, and social reformers complained that children were flogged and half starved.’(Notes p.415 Romantic Writings: An Anthology). With TOCB, the poet seems to be reiterating this latter viewpoint, but he uses metaphors of nature to portray the good of being free, rather than seeking to dramatise the awfulness of the workhouse.
Words: 1592
Bibliography
Approaching Literature. Romantic Writings edited by Stephen Bygrave. A210vol4I2.1
Part One: Chapter three: Defences of Poetry by Graham Allen. Pages 71-89.
Chapter four: Women writers and readers by Susan Matthews. Pages 91-114.
Chapter Seven: Reading Byron by Stephen Bygrave. Pages 161-181.
Chapter eight: Women Poets 1780-1830 by Amanda Gilroy. Pages 183-203.
Approaching Literature. Romantic Writings: An Anthology. Edited by W.R. Owens and Hamish Johnson. OU A210anthi 1.2
Barrett Browning, Elizabeth L.E.L.’s Last Question.
Byron, George Gordon Don Juan: Dedication, Canto I.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Biographia Literia.
Gibson Lockhart, John from the Cockney School of Poetry.
Hemans, Felicia The Grave of a poetess.
Landon, Laeticia Elizabeth Stanzas on the Death of Mrs Heman.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe A defence of Poetry.
Smith, Charlotte Sonnet XXXII, To Melancholy.
Wordsworth, Dorothy Floating Island.
Wordsworth, William Preface to Lyrical Ballads 1802.
Audio
AC12, Band 2, reading of Charlotte Smith, ‘Sonnet XXXII. To Melancholy’.
AC12, Band 2, reading of extract from Byron, Don Juan, Canto I.
