Holy Thursday vs. The Divine Image

William Blake wrote “Holy Thursday” and “The Divine Image” in the late eighteenth century when war and political change were at extremes in the Americas. Being from England, William Blake knew about governmental treachery and religious ultimatums. A large focus for Blake’s poems was his religion. Many people turned to Christianity during difficult times, because it gave them hope. When the world seems to throw every problem available at someone’s door, that person needs a reason to go on living and breathing. People turned to religion because Christians believe there is some thing, some place, out there that is bigger and better than any of them, and that if they endure the pain and suffering of life with a strong head, they one day will reap the rewards of this place called heaven. Blake used imagery in these two poems to talk about the same ideas, yet to portray them in a totally distinct way. The way he describes Jesus Christ and heaven are similar, but his images of children change throughout. The style in which a poem is written can have a great effect on the way the audience reads it. Blake does not stick with a single, simple rhythm. He gives us variety and depth to express himself through his words.

One aspect these two poems have in common is the idea behind worship and religion. God and heaven play important roles in these two poems by Blake. In “Holy Thursday”, Blake speaks of attending church on Ascension Day, watching the innocent children file in to attend service and learn about their religion. “Harmonious heaven among.” In this line fragment, he talks about sitting in church as if it is comparable to actually sitting in heaven. He described the children’s songs to heaven as being “raised” up, as in an offering. Usually hymns and songs at church are sung as a way of communicating with God and Jesus Christ. The children are seen as angels singing to God, as seen in his passage, “lest you drive an angel from your door.” In all these ways, William Blake makes it very clear that he values the church and worships God and Jesus.

Comparatively, Jesus is “The Divine Image” in Blake’s eyes. He explains that everyone that prays, does so for mercy, pity, peace and love. “Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love, Is Man, his child and care.” This line comes right after he calls God, “our father dear.” He believes that any man that prays, no matter where from, what religion or background, must love Jesus. If they pray for these four symbols, they are praying to God and his human form, his son, “The Divine Image” of Jesus Christ.

The style he writes with varies in these two poems. Blake changes up his wording, lines and rhyming rhythm to cater to his poems. In both of these poems, he uses exact rhymes like “snow” and “flow” as well as approximate rhymes like “clime” and “divine.” In “Holy Thursday”, every other line, separated by commas, rhymes either exactly or approximately. This can make the poem seem to flow better and make it easier to give a rhythm to when reading it out loud. When each line rhymes, the poem feels more like it reads itself. These systematic set ups are more orderly and work well with a traditional poetic audience.

In contrast, “The Divine Image” has a much different set up. Since the theme of the poem seems to be the ideas behind praying to and communicating with Jesus or God, this poem has a song-like look and feel. The rhythm is quite different from “Holy Thursday”, as it consists of five small paragraphs with short lines, and only four lines per paragraph. The other, is three paragraphs with two short sentences put together on each line which conform to the rhyme. Not all the lines rhyme in “The Divine Image.” It looks like lyrics from a song, perhaps a work that Blake looked at as an offering to God and Jesus showing his devotion.

Blake’s use of imagery and descriptive words are what make his poems so intriguing. These two poems differ in the way he describes things though. In “Holy Thursday”, the children and church seem to be portrayed more graceful and colorful. He describes the children as “red & blue & green,” these “flowers of London town.” They all “flow” into the church on this fortieth day after Easter, this Holy Thursday. Then he changes his metaphor and uses images of lambs being herded, as the “multitudes” of children all taking their seats in the church. Another few words he uses for describing the children are pity and angels. So, with all of these descriptions, the images that are seen just representing children are flowers, a river, pity, innocence, angels, and herds of lambs.

In The Divine Image however, Blake does an exquisite job of attaching a solid human feature to a moral value or idea for his image focus.
“Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.”
In all these ideas, he speaks of something human, yet pins it to this idea he has already expressed that “The Divine Image” is just the human behind God. Perhaps this divine image he has laid out for us is the image we have come to know as the body of Jesus Christ.

Blake uses religion, imagery and rhythmic style to create his own distinct and creative poems. It is obvious, through reading these two works, that he was a religious man. He viewed children as angels from heaven as well as innocent little lambs. He used great descriptive words to illustrate his poetic ideas and wrote with a flavorful style. Some poems always rhyme and some do not. That does not mean it is any less poetic. A good audience for a poet like Blake, is one of open mind, rhythmic ear and caring heart. To read Blake, one cannot help but become a good member of his audience.