ABSTRACT
William Blake’s sympathetic focus on children is often considered the beginnings of the “cult of the child” which would lead to the century’s romantic idealization of childhood. Here, in Songs of Innocence, he accentuates children as “innocent” and “clean,” likened to “flowers” and “lambs” with a “radiance all their own.” Of course in Songs of Experience, Blake will acknowledge the bitter truth: these young children in the rich nation of England are yet starving and impoverished. But, to construe the ideal portrait of children, Blake notably turns to a scene of religious song and performance. Here, on “Holy Thursday” (Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter), charity school children walk to St. Paul’s to sing for those in attendance, with hymns an important part of the liturgical concert.1
