Blake puts his ideas across in different ways throughout
the poem. He uses repetition to emphasise a word, such as ‘innocent’ which is repeated in the poem to draw attention to the word. It stands out from other words because he says their faces are ‘innocent’ and they ‘raise their innocent hands’ so the reader will wonder why Blake has described the children as innocent. Does he want us to sympathise with them? If so why? They seem to be happy ‘radiance’
But this is why Blake emphasises the word. He wants the reader to looks at it and try and work it out, that it can have two sides to it. Blake wants to put the point across that the children are blameless and innocent. It could even be hat they haven’t committed no sins, so why are they being punished for it.
Blake also repeats ‘multitudes’ to emphasise the word
And put his idea across of there being a large number of children. As the poem has a positive theme, he didn’t make it sound unpleasant that’s why he chose ‘multitudes’ supposed to crowds.
Blake also used ‘multitudes’ in metaphors. ‘multitude they seem’d, these flowers of London town’
Blake has described the children as flowers. This is a cheerful and positive description. So as there were a large number of children and it would have been quite unpleasant for the ‘innocent’ children who weren’t to blame. Blake described them as ‘multitudes’ of ‘flowers’ which we image as a nice pleasant picture in our heads.
Blake also uses another metaphor that emphasises both ideas of the children being innocent and crowded. ‘multitudes of lambs’ We know lambs as helpless, innocent creatures, I think this is why Blake chose ‘lambs’ say instead of horses, who are powerful animals that would be able to do something about it.
Blake also communicates his ideas to the reader through
Rhythm, structure, and the rhyme scheme. The rhythm of the poem is very similar all the way through, the idea of this is to make the poem easy t understand and childlike.
The structure is also straightforward and simple,
As each stanza has four lines, which gives the effect of a child’s nursery rhyme that is easy to understand.
The structure also adds to how Blake portrayed children by the short simple lay out. This is how Blake saw children’s minds. – young, clear, simple, as they haven’t yet lived their lives, and don’t know any different life to their bad lives in the charity schools.
If the structure was long, it would be more complex, and it would seem a adavanced poem, that’s harder to understand.
The rhyming scheme from the start is very predictable, which puts the reader at comfort as they seem to get the drift of the poem.
The rhymes are set out in couplets, as the last word of the line rhymes with the last word in the next line. Again as this is predictable and stays the same all the way through the poem, it gives the effect of a nursery rhyme and the reader is certain of the poem. I think Blake has structured the poem in this way, so that we empathise with how Blake portrays children. He feels sorry for them, and sets the scene with a nursery rhyme structured poem, to get in touch with the readers emotions.
In the poem I think Blake has used a lot of irony, he has used it to turn bad things into good things. ‘Wands as white as snow’ these ‘beadles’ who are holding these so called ‘wands’ aren’t actually carrying wands. They are holding their canes, ready to hit the children with if they step out of line. This is how Blake was ironic, as he’s taken a cane, which is something harmful and negative, and he’s turned it into a magical wand as he describes it like ‘snow’ which children love.
However if you was to interpret ‘snow’ in another way then you see the other side to it. Though snow can be magical and fun, it can also be very bitter and cause damage to people. In this case Blake wants the reader to see the bitter side of snow.
So in actual fact these ‘wands’ aren’t nice like one interpretation of snow. They are bitter, cold, nasty canes! That children fear.
Blake has been ironic in stanza three ‘wise guardians of
The poor’ these guardians aren’t nice and kind like guardian angels. The are mean strict authority figured teachers, who only look after the children for the public eye, and so that they look like good holy people.
I think Blake must have hated these people. They are only out to look good, but they don’t really care about the poor children!
This is how Blake has been ironic, and again he turned them from bad people that they really are into the unrealistic version if nice kind guardians.
The main themes of Holy Thursday (SOI) are charity
and religion.
As the children are going to church and they sing/pray to the lord, the poem obviously involves religion, and which Blake was religious.
I think Blake may be trying to say that religion isn’t always good for children, there is still poverty in the world, and religion doesn’t always solve it, as much as you pray.
Charity is also part of the theme because these children attended charity schools, and were either poor or abandoned. So this was the only education they would get. Though their poverty wasn’t made through their own faults.
Blake did not like authority or organised religion.
We can see this by how he described the children on their way to church ‘walking two and two, in red and blue and green’ This makes the children seem like soldiers! They are over organised, and its stopping them from having a childhood. He thinks he should be describing them as joyful and laughing not like soldiers.
The Irony Blake used also indicates the negative results of organised religions.
Blake portrays the children as ‘innocent’ he emphasises
this word as there are two sides to it. The children are innocent because they are only young and haven’t committed any sins, but also because they have no choice over how they act. They are made to be religious. The children are too organised and the effects are bad. Blake is trying to say that organised religion is not good! The children aren’t like children they are like soldiers, but it’s not their choice to be this way.
On the other hand Blake could be describing the
Children as ‘innocent’ to make them seem like angels, bringing the idea of religion back in. This also relates to the last line of the poem ‘Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door’ which is a quote from the bible. Blake used this quote as it relates to the wardens attitudes towards the children and charity schools. What Blake is trying to say is, if the wardens are so religious ten why are they so cruel to the children, as they could be hidden angels.
The illuminated version of the poem backs up my
Point of Blake portraying the children as too organised and having no real happy childhood. The picture shows the children walking two and two behind the wardens. But again backing up another pint, the children don’t look like children, it’s like Blake has imitated them as soldiers, which is the effect of the organised religion.
The children may look smarty dressed and cheerful, but all the organised religion does not have a positive effect on the children.
The main mood in Holy Thursday (SOE) is very negative ‘usurous’ and dull ‘bleak’
The poem has quite the opposite mood of songs of innocence because in this poem the children are cold and starving in London. Blake metaphorically describes it as ‘a land of poverty’ though London is a rich ‘fruitful city. So Blake is saying ‘poverty’ as in the emotion. The poor people are sad as if they experienced poverty, Blake seems to be describing their emotions but symbolising it as something else. For example ‘and their sun does never shine’ Blake doesn’t mean this literally, he is saying that they are never happy, so in their world the sun does never shine. In the last stanza I think Blake is referring to the richer people, who sun does shine, as they are happy and not starving. Blake also questions things a lot in the poem ‘is this a holy thing to see’ He doesn’t think poverty is a holy thing, it’s not right that these children have nothing whilst others have far too much than they need.
Blake communicates his ideas to the reader through
rhythm, the rhyme scheme and structure.
The rhythm of the poem is similar all the way through, this indicates that Blake felt strongly about poverty as they rhythm is very clear and precise.
The rhyme scheme of the poem isn’t as regular and
Predictable as songs of innocence.
It has a regular rhyme scheme in stanza one, three, and four, but in stanza 2 there is no rhyming. Blake has replaced it with question marks. He starts to question things ‘can it be a song of joy’ this makes the reader more tense, that same as the effect of the irregular rhyme scheme. As the rhyme scheme is not certain and predictable then reader won’t be sure of it, unlike in songs of innocence.
The structure is set into four stanzas and they each are short but effective, and again this is because it represents how strongly Blake felt against the poor children starving. He thought it was wrong and has been able to communicate it to the reader through short and effective stanzas and effective language.
Blake has chosen some interesting words to get his
Point across to the reader. In stanza one Blake says ‘fed with cold and usurous hand?’ The word that stands out here is ‘usurous’ but it makes the meaning of the line effective. Blake is trying to say that the guardians who take care of the children aren’t warm and loving, they are cold and cruelly selfish. Blake is portraying the children as unloved, young and vulnerable.
Another interesting word I spotted was ‘babes’ instead of saying babies or children Blake has used ‘babes’. This word gives a good effect of a young infant, and I think it also makes it seem that Blake is describing them like he cares for them and loves them.
In the last line of the last stanza. Blake says
‘Nor poverty the mind appal’ This seems a complex sentence, but I think it means that in the place where sun does shine – where people are happy/rich, poverty doesn’t ever come across their minds, they aren’t concerned. I think Blake chose ‘appal’ because he was appalled at how much poverty there is and governments let it happen. But these rich and selfish people aren’t disgusted/appalled by how many innocent children are left to starve.
I think Blake wants to emphasise ‘poverty’
As he has repeated it several times in the poem. He wants the reader to see both sides of it. The first one being poor, and hungry. The other is the emotional state of poverty, feeling empty and sad. Both of these sides are what the children are going through, and neither of them are positive. Poverty is a very horrible and negative problem.
In Songs of Innocence Blake had been quite
ironic to show his ideas. But in songs of experience I can not detect any irony, I think it’s because this poem is a much sadder poem and starvation causes lots of deaths. So Blake didn’t feel the need to be ironic in such a serious sad matter.
I believe the themes of this poem are poverty
and misery. It’s obvious that this poem is about poverty as the word is emphasised and the children are starving. Blake is portraying the children as helpless and poor in the poem. The children can not do anything about this state. Though rich people can. But they don’t genuinely want to help.
The other theme of misery is in the poem as we can instantly tell it’s a sad miserable poem. Stanza three shows this a lot through the metaphors used. Blake says ‘their sun does never shine’ which means the children are never happy.
‘their fields are leak and bare’ in our mind we would picture fields and country side as green with lots of nice bushy trees, but in the children’s minds everything is miserable and ‘bare’ a ‘bare’ tree is dead in this case, and this relates to their hope – they have no hope left.
‘their ways are fill’d with thorns’ but Blake could mean two things or both, and both would be relevant. One interpretation is that the thorns are I they way so the children are made to have a really hard life because they stop things from being done easily. So everything seems cold and hard like in the ‘eternal winter’
On the other hand it comes into the idea of Blake portraying the children as controlled and not being free. If the thorns are in their way then they can not be free to go places. But the thorns are always there, thus they will never be free from the poverty, and free to go where they like and have childhood while they can, because it’s ‘eternal winter there’
The illuminated version of songs of experience
Backs up my pints of the poem being dull and starvation being very serious causing deaths. In the picture there is a big tree, but its not full of life. It’s bare! Probably dead. We also see a young child lying in the lake, which looks very much dead. The child would have died from starvation. The guardian nearby isn’t grieving or helping, she just stands there like she doesn’t care.
The Echoing Green (SOI) is a happy, cheerful and nostalgic poem. The main idea of it is about looking back on happy childhood memories. You either look at the each stanza as a day passing by, or look at it as someone’s life passing. It can be interpreted in both of these ways. I think Blake wants the reader to look at this poem and see this is the way a child’s life should be – happy and cheerful.
The poem could be about the industrial revolution ‘and sport no more seen
On the darkening green’
Blake could be scared that the land will be replaced with buildings and factories.
Blake communicates his ideas in the poem to the
reader through the poems rhythm, rhyme scheme and structure.
The rhythm of the poem is similar all the way through the poem. This helps keep the poem happy, and makes the poem simpler and clear. Instead of all over the place.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is very similar
To the one in Holy Thursday (SOI) the rhyming is so regular that it relaxes the reader and the rhymes are predictable. The reader is not tense as they don’t expect any unfortunate twists and turns in the poem. Again this adds to the optimism of the poem and the ways Blake portrays children/childhood is easier for the reader to see.
The structure of the poem has been formed in three
Fairly long stanzas, but not so long to make it complex. Blake has structured the poem so it goes through the stages and time of either someone’s life or a day of someone’s life. It can be interpreted in both of these ways. This set out makes it easier to understand.
Blake used a simile in stanza three:
‘Like birds in their nests’ he is portraying the children as loved with a nice big family to cuddle up with and be happy. This is how Blake thinks childhood should be and I agree.
Blake also gets his ideas across to the reader
Through the repetition of ‘the echoing green’ Blake calls it the echoing green as he can hear the happy laughing in his mind from the joyful memories it brings back. Though in the last stanza he calls it a ‘darkening green’ This stands out because its o longer ‘echoing green’ its ‘darkening’ dark is a negative thing. So I think Blake portrays the children as never wanting to get old, and when they do its horrible, as its so good being a child. Therefore their green darkens.
I cannot see any irony in the poem. Blake does
Not feel the need to use it, as the poem is so positive and optimistic. So there is nothing to judge and be ironic about.
I feel this poem has several relevant themes: country,
Family and nature.
Country and nature linking together as I think Blake wants the reader to feel life is more natural, unselfish way in the countryside. It’s a much nicer place for the children. We can see the poem involves country and nature from lines like ‘birds of the bush’ here there is jolly nature singing.
‘sitting under the oak tree’ The oak being an oak tree, here there is contrast between this big alive tree and the bleak and bare one in holy Thursday (SOE)
The poem involves family, as this is a reason why the
Children are so happy. ’round the laps of their mothers’ the children are happy and loved to be with their family.
The illuminated version of the poem backs up
My point about the poem linking with nature. Nature is natural and in the picture all the young children are naked. In most cases this is considered natural. The children don’t need lots of money or an organised religion to make them happy.
From the picture I can also see that under the big alive tree, there are mothers with children around their laps. All these things are happy and positive. The way Blake thinks childhood should be.
After looking at the three poems and exploring them in depth can see that William Blake is trying to communicate to the reader that his beliefs are right. Organised religions and rich cities don’t bring happiness, they always have a negative affect in some way. However in the echoing green things are done naturally there is no religion mentioned, and nothing about money. The children have lots of friends and family to make them happy. Blake looks back on these happy childhood memories and all is happy.
Blake portrays children differently in each poem.
Holy Thursday (SOI) – Too organised with no freedom.
Holy Thursday (SOE) – Stricken poverty and unloved
The Echoing Green – natural and happy.
Throughout all three poems Blake has used some interesting language to give an effect that he wants the reader to feel or picture. If you changed a word slightly it would probably give a totally different meaning to the line. The way Blake emphasised a word is good as it draws all the readers attention to it so that we study it and know to work from the word.
Overall how Blake has put his beliefs in these poems lets readers empathise with his beliefs. Organised religion and strict wardens don’t help children. It just wastes away their childhood. The wardens aren’t really holy people, they do it to look good. If everyone was like it the world would be a bad place.
