William Blake's "Holy Thursday"

William Blake's "Holy Thursday"

There is no denying that William Black is an idiosyncratic figure in history and also, a man who's state of mind can be questionable. However, with all the queer characteristics aside, his poems are definitely a work of a genius. Specifically looking at Songs of Innocence and Experience and further into "Holy Thursday", his depth of perception and style of deliverance of his message leaves so much room for analysis and questions.

The innocence part of "Holy Thursday" at a glance is longer horizontally than typical poems, making it look like a book. The ending words demonstrate a AABB rhyme scheme, a very easy and paired-like. Reading the poem, we are exposed to children who are in pairs walking in sync behind their beadles. Once again showing Blake's like for pairs because it gives a sense of companionship like married couples. The different colors, red, blue, green, grey, and white are the protruding details of the first stanza. As innocence is oblivious to the 'black and white' version of the world, it can afford to cloth itself with bright colors and grey that dims the awful nature of black. As the children enter as "a multitude", the congregation perceives them as "flowers", "lambs", and radiant creatures. They "raise their innocent hands". This picture reminds me of priests offering their sacrifices; however, the irony is that the children who are referred to as lambs are raising their hands. That signifies that children are unaware of what they are: sacrifices for the adults. The adults view them and can forget for just a moment about the calamities that occur in their lives. Maybe the children are offering themselves to save the befallen adults from hell. Which means that the last stanza shows the sincerity of the children's songs as they are like "a mighty wind" and "harmonious thunderings". But I think the bigger idea is that Blake is showing the hypocrisy of the "aged men, wise guardians of  the poor" because the men are only trying to make themselves feel better about their atrocious behaviors. As I remember, there was few orphanage during the 18th century that had good living conditions because the head of the orphanages took the donations and used  the money for themselves, which makes the "Grey-headed beadles" hypocrites as well. Blake cloaks this irony behind the children and try to portray what society believes it is doing 'for' the children.

"Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)" reveals the irony with comparing the actual situation with that in heaven. The first line starts off by asking "Is this a holy thing to see...?" In other terms, "Is making children sing for us really a holy thing in the beautiful cathedral even though in reality the very children are suffering from sickness, disease, and maltreatment in the orphanages?" That's how I perceived the first stanza. Blake is pointing out the sickening hypocrisy of the wealthy upper class for trying to cover up their real intention of 'donating' to the orphanages, to lessen their guilt and sins. Therefore, the songs that the children are singing are far from "song of joy" because they toil under the very hypocrisy that the wealthy are feeding off of. The children as they grow older realize what they have suffered and their sun can never shine because the light has been smudged by the upper class. Their world will be ""eternal winter" because they will fail to find warmth or hope in the sinful world. When I was reading the last stanza, I immediately thought of heaven, but that means that the place where "Babe can never hunger" is not existent anywhere on earth. The grim view that only death can release the children into an eternal salvation of hope and dream shows how Blake perceives the world.

I don't know how well I analyzed Blake's poem, but I know that as I reread the poem over and over again, I was realizing various elements and relations that tied together. .

“Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman

“Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman

1              Taught early that his mother’s skin was the sign of error,

            He dressed and spoke the perfect part of honor;

            Won scholarships, attended the best schools,

            Disclaimed kinship with jazz and spirituals;

5          Chose prudent, raceless views of each situation,

            Or when he could not cleanly skirt dissension,

            Faced up to the dilemma, firmly seized

            Whatever ground was Anglo-Saxonized.

            In diet, too, his practice was exemplary:

10         Of pork in its profane forms he was wary;

            Expert in vintage wines, sauces and salads,

            His palate shrank from cornbread, yams and collards.

            He was as careful whom he chose to kiss:

            His bride had somewhere lost her Jewishness,

15         But kept her blue eyes; an Episcopalian

            Prelate proclaimed them matched chameleon.

            Choosing the right addresses, here, abroad,

            They shunned those places where they might be barred;

            Even less anxious to be asked to dine

20         Where hosts catered to kosher accent or exotic skin.

            And so he climbed, unclogged by ethnic weights,

            An airborne plant, flourishing without roots.

            Not one false note was struck—until he died:

            His subtly grieving widow could have flayed

25         The obit writers, ringing crude changes on a clumsy phrase:

            “One of the most distinguished members of his race.”

If Mr. Z is the subject of this poem, then Mr. Z tried to live the perfect life by trying to cover up his heritage. The first line of this poem suggests that he is from a non-white family and probably that his mother was black, therefore, "his mother's skin was the sign of error." Also, it can be inferred that Mr. Z is from a mixed heritage, since it is only his mother that has African American roots. By trying to set himself above the stereotypical African American descendants, Mr. Z accepted everything of the upper white class norms and dejected the African American culture of food, style, and people. 

The irony is that the poet of this poem M. Carl Holman dedicated his life to end segregation but he wrote a poem about a half black man who disdains his culture. Although I am not definitely sure about what the poet's message is, I feel like the essence of this poem is to reveal that one shouldn't try to avert his or her background. The tone of the poem emphasizes the meticulous action of Mr. Z and the great attention he gives in trying to avoid anything that was not "exemplary". The picture perfectness of the poem also places a rigidness of the conformed life Mr. Z leads. It (life) seems like a duty and a presentation rather than one that is filled with spontaneity and surprises. He follows a formula in order to cover up any criticism or prejudice from society. By "choosing the right addresses, here, abroad", Mr. Z makes sure that he is in control of his own life. His formulaic approach allows him to die with "not one false note" being struck. However, the irony comes in on the last line, "One of the most distinguished members of his race" Um... "race" <-- the way I viewed this word is that all his way of life was futile at the end. Society still cast him as a different race than the normal, let's say, white population. Am I alright to assume this? What I am trying to say is that I think the poet, in writing the last line, tried to convey the message of "embrace your heritage and don't try to live by society's standards" After all, Mr. Z failed even though he was so perfect in all he did. Tying this back to the irony I mentioned in the beginning of the paragraph, I think Holman wrote this poem as a Civil Rights activist to share the message with the fellow African Americans who were trying to assimilate with the white population. (This is all my assumption) For Civil Rights movement, it was important for the African Americans to accept their identity as proud blacks in America. Their culture, heritage, and traditions shouldn't be distasteful, no matter what the white people tried to say. Their way of life was/is beautiful, and no one should try to take it away. Therefore, Holman illustrates the message that no matter how hard you try to cover up your heritage, it is a pointless act because white people are never going to accept an African American descendant as one of their own, so it's better to live by embracing the African American culture. 

Grendel's Mind = Craziness

Grendel's mental state of mind

After reading chapters 11 and 12 over the weekend, I have an urge to write about Grendel's mentality. Grendel's description of Beowulf was definitely a shocker and an eye opener because of the very high possibility of 'Grendel = CRAZY'.

Grendel's mentality has indicated that it has been deteriorating in subtle and obvious ways. The most prominent example is on page 92 where the poem that Grendel writes explicitly says, ""Grendel is crazy" (92). I mean, he's talking to himself, dances like a ballerina, and completely shifts his chain of thought. There are many different explanations as to why Grendel is digressing.
First, Grendel finds out from the glorious Shaper that he is a descendant of a hatred lineage, making him a total reject in Hrothgar's world. Then, the fact that even with the awareness, he cannot totally ignore Shaper's influence of beauty, unity, and patterness causes, essentially, his soul to become harrowed with conflicting thoughts. His mind wants him to embrace the beautiful elements, but his subconscious (dragon) steers him away from becoming assimilated into the men's society. Therefore, the Shaper has a profound impact on Grendel's conflicted view, causing him to 'overuse', for the lack of a better word, his brain.
As if the Shaper's influence was not enough, Wealtheow comes into the novel as "innocent as dawn on winter hills" (100). Her presence is enough to tear Grendel "apart". The image that Wealtheow symbolizes is so pure and absolutely stunning that Grendel becomes enchanted and enamored by Wealtheow. She acts as a protective force around the mead hall from both Grendel and the men's animal like behavior. Grendel, in his idleness, again suffers and becomes frustrated with his own inadequacies and lacking. I think at the end when Grendel decides to basically rape Wealtheow, he shocks himself again as he stares into "the ugliness between her legs" (110). This action wakes him up to go back to the dragon's side. Therefore, the shift again taxes his brain and mentality.
Also, another interesting point is that Grendel gradually starts laughing and laughs more and more, especially in not even funny situations. That can be seen as a sign of a mentally ill person, or in this case, a monster.
The sadness of the Shaper's death also contributes to the digression of Grendel's mentality. The man who embodied beauty and intellect is no longer present to give Grendel things to think about. Therefore, the Shaper and Wealtheow unknowingly succeeds in tearing Grendel's mind apart by the things that they embody, such as beauty, unity, pattern, etc.
I don't know if this is going on a tangent line, but I also wanted to mention how Grendel seems to believe that he is the center of the universe. Therefore, after Grendel attacks the meadhall and sees that the people build pyres to give offerings to the gods, he gets mad because he feels as if he should be worshiped. Does this make sense? For example, in chapter 1, it says, "The song swells, pushes through woods and sky, and they're singing now as if by some lunatic theory they had won" (14). Then, the most important quote comes up, "I shake with rage" (14). I think in some way, Grendel wants the humans to start worshiping him, he craves for his godliness to be accepted, causing him to become infuriated when he sees the humans worshiping other gods. Because he believes his periodic raids are beneficial to the humans, I think he is expecting some kind of reverence. However, because he doesn't get it, he "shakes with rage", which causes his mental state to deteriorate even further.