Holy Thursday (Innocence): Notes

---

This is probably the controversial of the lyrics in the Songs of Innocence. The problem is mainly one of identifying the tone and attitude of the speaker and the poem towards the procession of children. Like Holy Thursday: Experience the poem describes the annual service of thanksgiving held at St. Pauls in the 1780s and 1790s for Charity School children, where the children gave thanks for the charity they receive throughout the year. Should the children be so grateful for this charity, or are they so innocent that they know no better? It is clear that the children here are viewed as lambs, flowers and angels, traditional images of innocence, but what is the speaker's attitude to the "aged men, wise guardians of the poor"? Is the last line of the poem directed at them, (bearing in mind that Charity Schools were often accused of neglecting or mistreating their charges), or does it celebrate the ways that this young flock is taken in hand and arranged into serried ranks? Comparison with Holy Thursday (Experience) is illuminating.



Return to Holy Thursday (Innocence)