The poem ‘Holy Thursday’ by William Blake can be perceived as the personas perception of how the inhabitants of the landscape are neglected and treated insensitively even though the land is abundant with continuous productivity and material possessions.
Society is portrayed as being overwhelmed by the temptations of the landscape and ultimately have become corrupt. This is portrayed through the metaphor of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as well as the repeated motif of religion in the quote, ‘in a rich and fruitful land’. It highlights society’s obsession with material possessions and their lack of consideration for the resources provided to them.
Society’s neglect of the landscape is clearly evident within this poem. The first line states, ‘Is this a holy thing to see’. The word ‘holy’ can be perceived as a portrayal of how inhabitants are being sacrilegious to the landscape as they are neglecting and wasting the resources of the land. Stanza three refers to a ‘sun does never shine’ and ‘fields…bleak and bare’, reinforcing how society has wasted its most valuable resources and how the landscape has been neglected because of this. The more the inhabitants take from the landscape, the more they want, and yet they have little consideration for the future generations, such as the children of the society who are already suffering.
It is also evident within the poem that equality and justice does not exist within the landscape. Although the poem refers to ‘a rich and fruitful land’, which in essence connotes the vast quantity of material objects present within the landscape and also how it is highly productive, it is unable to provide for all its inhabitants. The utilisation of rhetorical questions, at the beginning of the poem, encourages the responder to recognise how inhabitants are ‘reduced to misery’ due to the unequal distribution of resources and power within society. The children referred to in the poem are cared for by inhabitants who appear to be kind and charitable. However, they are ‘fed with cold and usurous hand’ which connotes the unforgiving and insensitive hands by which they are fed. This if furthered by the indirect juxtaposition of the ‘misery’ of the children and the ‘song of joy’ demonstrating the recurring theme of the poem, appearance verses reality. It highlights how although the children are miserable they are expected to sing songs of praise and happiness. The children are forced to travels along ‘paths’ that are ‘filled with thorns’, highlighting the suffering of the children much like that that was experienced by Jesus. Inhabitants are unable to recognise the lies of the church group and how rather they are manipulating the children for their own benefits. The utilisation of rhetorical questions, 'Is that trembling cry a song? Can it be a song of joy? Abnd so many children poor?', encourages the responder to question the motives of the inhabitants and also presents the persona’s perception that contributions should not be required because the children currently inhabit such a ‘rich and fruitful’ land.
Blake’s criticism of the inhabitants of the landscape is clearly portrayed throughout the poem. Although the church treats the children harshly, he perceives that it is not only the church that can be to blame for the children’s suffering but also the community as they appear to merely turn a blind eye towards the miseries endured by the children. It highlights the selfish nature of the inhabitants and how they are willing to manipulate others purely for their own gain.
The repetition of the phrase ‘and their’ within the third stanza demonstrates the eternal and inescapable miseries of the children and also highlights the composers criticism towards the inhabitants of the landscape.
It is ironic that although the landscape is ‘rich and fruitful’, the children have been forced to live within both a physical and inner landscape that is harsh and filled with unending miseries. This has resulted in the destruction of the innocence of the children and has resulted in a detrimental impact both on their inner and imaginative landscape. It appears as though the inhabitants can not live in a landscape that is truly ‘rich’ if the lives of the future generations have been received in such a negative light.
The duality of the landscape is also portrayed throughout the poem. The landscape can be a place of suffering, misery and challenges and can cause people to become tempted by its resources resulting in the greed and corruption of its inhabitants. However, it can also be perceived as a symbol of innocence and of new beginnings as well as hope for the future as portrayed in the last stanza, ‘For where-e’re the min does shine, And where-e’re the rain does fall, Babe can never hunger there’. The last stanza juxtaposes to the rest of the poem as it highlights that a natural landscape that provides so much shall find a way to support its inhabitants. The change of tone evident in the last stanza encourages the reader to hold an optimistic outlook on how the world can still be altered in order to benefit inhabitants if people are able to learn how to appreciate the landscape. It is able to establish a hope for change in the future through the alteration of inhabitants morals and attitudes and their perceptions of the landscape.
It can be perceived, that Blake portrays society as being greedy and selfish through his criticism of the inhabitants behaviour. The relationship that exist between the children and the landscape has been significantly impacted upon and recognises that change can only be brought about through the inhabitants questioning of their own morals and values and how they have the ability to alter what they have done.
The poem ‘Holy Thursday’ can be compared with the poem ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’ by Robert Gray as they share a number of similarities. Both poems address the issue of society’s manipulation of the landscape for their own benefit and how this can ultimately impact upon inhabitants. Both present the world as a place that once was filled with things that worked but due to the lack of consideration, resources have been wasted and the landscape is neglected. It illustrates the selfish nature of society through their obsession with superficial possessions including wealth and power.
‘Holy Thursday’ can also be compared to A.D Hope’s poem ‘Australia Australia Australia
1 comment:
Excellent! Thanks a lot :)
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