Analysis of Holy Thursday (Innocence)

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean
The children walking two & two in red & blue & green
Grey headed beadles walked before with wands as white as snow
Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow

O what a multitude they seemed these flowers of London town
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own
The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs
Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among
Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door


Scheme AABB XXXX XXXX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (33%)
Metre 1101011100101 01010110111 11010101111111 10101111111101 11010111101101 100100111100111 011101111011 10110111011001 110101111100111 11010010111001 01110111100101 11010111110111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 709
Words 131
Sentences 1
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 192
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

39 sec read
209

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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