Holy Thursday (Song of Experience) : Quotations
Holy Thursday (Song of Experience) is a notable literary work by William Blake. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of Holy Thursday (Song of Experience).
Quotations
Is this a holy thing to see
In a rich and fruitful land,
Babes reduced to misery
Fed with cold and usurous hand?
Exp: Here, Blake points out England’s failure. Though England is a rich country, so many children suffer here. Because people are selfish. They do not truly care for the poor orphaned children.
And so many children poor?
It is a land of poverty!
Exp: The speaker thinks England must be a poor country. Otherwise, so many children would not be poor and hungry.
And their sun does never shine.
And their fields are bleak & bare.
And their ways are fill’d with thorns
It is eternal winter there.
Exp: This stanza is a powerful metaphor. Here, Blake compares the children’s misery to a barren land. Nothing grows in this barren land. The sun does not shine there, and rain never falls. It is like an endless winter there, full of sadness and suffering.