Poet’s Corner: Blake Holy Thursday 1

5 February 2026

(2 May 2014) One of the interesting things that the Romantic poet, William Blake did was to write “parallel” sets of poems, titled “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience.” Each poem in the first had an analog, or perhaps a response, in the second, probably the most famous pair of these is “The Lamb,” from the first, and “The Tyger,” from the second. We will look at this pair at a later date, for today, I wish to look at two poems bearing the same name, “Holy Thursday.” We will look at the first of these, from “Songs of Innocence” today, and the second on Saturday.

Holy Thursday (from “Songs of Innocence”)

Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two & two, in red & blue & green;
Grey headed beadles [church officials] walked before with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul’s they like Thames waters flow.

O what a multitude they seemd, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among,
Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor;
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

Holy Thursday was a celebration of the ascension of Christ into heaven, and it was the practice to take all the poor, orphaned children from the charity schools of London to church on this day, where they sang hymns to those who would have been patrons of these schools for the poor. Blake paints the scene clearly, with details of their cleanliness and their manner of dress, organized into perfect lines as they are led into their seats . . . in the balconies, while below them their ‘wise guardians’ sit and bask in the glow of the music and their own, obvious piety–seems ‘innocent’ enough, and then Blake does what is common among the Romantics, issues a command the gives us the ‘moral’ of the story, so to speak. The question is, who are we supposed to pity? The ‘wise men’ or the poor ‘boys & girls?’ And why should we pity either group, since the wise men are fulfilling their duty, showing us how well these orphans are maintained? Who are the angels we should be looking for? With Blake, it is always the ‘undercurrent’ or what is not spoken but understood by both poet and reader. Granted, taking these children to church is a good thing, but we are forced to ask, what about the other 364 days of the year? Are they treated as well on those days? Hardly likely, since the ‘charity schools’ had reputations for brutality that are legendary. What, then, is the poet trying to tell us, with his concluding line? Come back Saturday and we will see when we look at the ‘experienced’ analog of this ‘innocent’ poem! Also, fi you are interested in our poetry, look here.