ENGL 364 Dr. Helen Bittel "Holy Thursday" Study Guide Answer any four of the following questions, which draw on both of Blake's "Holy Thursday" poems. What? 1. Argument. Why do you think Blake paired these two poems by giving them the same title? What do they have in common? What connects them? In each case, what is the "message"? 2. Innocence and Experience. As you know, the first "Holy Thursday" comes from Blake's Songs of Innocence and the second from his Songs of Experience. The poems in each set are not "about" those two states per se but are written from the perspective of an "innocent" or "experienced" consciousness; they represent how an "innocent" or "experienced" person might perceive a given scenario or interpret a given situation. In light of this, what makes the first poem a song of innocence? And what makes the second a song of experience? How? 3. Sound and Sense. Can you identify the rhyme and meter of the first ("innocent") "Holy Thursday" poem? How do these affect the reader's expectations for (and experience of) the poem? Do they seem appropriate to the subject? How so (or how not)? 4. Sound and Sense 2. Can you identify the rhyme and meter of the second ("experience") "Holy Thursday" poem? How do these affect the reader's expectations for (and experience of) the poem? Do they seem appropriate to the subject? How so (or how not)? 5. Words and Images. How would you describe the tone and mood of each poem? And how, beyond rhyme and meter, does Blake establish these? For example, what role do word choices and dominant images play? In each case, are the "feeling" and imagery appropriate to the subject? Why? 6. Historical and Cultural Context. Given what you know about the historical and cultural changes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to what does Blake seem to be responding? What position does he seem to take? 7. Artistic Context. Look up these two poems in the Blake Archive (www.blakearchive.org). How do Blake's illuminations (i.e. illustrations) affect your reading of each poem? Do they complement the poems in a straightforward fashion? Do they complicate or contradict the poem? Lend additional insight into the meaning of the poem? Surprise you in any way? 8. Potpourri. Is there any else that you think might be important in understanding how the poem works that we have not covered above? What and why? Contact the English Department at: 570-348-6219. E-mail: English@marywood.edu.

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Last update August 19, 2004
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