Blake's distinction between innocence and experience in Holy Thursday

WILLIAM BLAKE'S HOLY THURSDAY

Why and how does Blake create a distinction between innocence and experience in Holy Thursday?

What kind of political and social beliefs have a strong bearing on Blake's poems?

Blake belonged to a group of English radicals: how does his work reflect this radicalism?

William Blake's entire work revolves around social and political conditions of his times. He was one of those romantics who did not follow in the footsteps of people like Wordsworth but instead received inspiration from harsh realities of life. Instead of focusing only on the good and the positive as Wordsworth did, Blake was more interested in exposing the cruelties that were hidden behind what apparently looked good on the surface. Blake used his work not only to explore nature or soul as most other Romantic poets did, but tried to utilize his talent to comment on the political and social weaknesses of eighteenth century England. It is on this basis that we can distinguish his work form that of Wordsworth's, a great contemporary of poet of Blake's. Blake used his work to openly criticize the political circles for their complacency and their imperialistic mode of governance. The only reason he explored nature was because he wanted to pit it against the complacent stiff reality of the material world. He wanted to highlight the ugliness of the world in which man existed and thus when he took up the subject of nature, it was more to understand why feeling was more important than reason. Unlike Wordsworth, Blake has little interest in nature for its own sake. He knew nature represented all that was beautiful but he was also interested in exploring new vistas of knowledge and thus through his writings, he delved deeper into the subject of nature to explain why beautiful was important.

This contrast between good and what was hidden behind it is evident in his poems Holy Thursday, which are actually two short poems, each focusing on a very different side of life. In the first Holy Thursday, the poet's thesis revolves around the idea that children are delightful characters who bring joy to this world. Blake shows us what is obvious to naked eye i.e. children going to the Church to praise the Lord without any worries in their hearts or minds. They are happy and this is what the poet focuses on entirely. We are not told about the social condition of these children who are actually poor and some even orphan as is clear from given footnotes. Blake was one of those who did not believe in established religion. Part one of Holy Thursday doesn't reveal his own religious beliefs because they have been saved for the second part. In the second Holy Thursday, we come across a very harsh and Blake world of the same children. Things have suddenly changed for the worse; Children are no longer shown as delightful beings but as victims of extreme poverty and misery who, the poet believes, have been forgotten by the Lord. This part reflects Blake's religious views correctly because it thrashes established religion and seems to thrash religious dogmas on the whole. Blake maintains that with the kind of misery these children face everyday, how can they go to Church with any real love for God.