by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Is this a holy thing to see
Language: English
Is this a holy thing to see In a rich and fruitful land, Babes reduc'd to misery, Fed with cold and usurous hand? Is that trembling cry a song? Can it be song of joy? And so many children poor? It is a land of poverty! And their sun does never shine, And their fields are bleak & bare, And their ways are fill'd with thorns: It is eternal winter there. For where-e'er the sun does shine, And were-e'er the rain does fall, Babe can never hunger there, Nor poverty the mind appall.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Holy Thursday", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 4, first published 1794 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "Holy Thursday", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra ], from Songs of Experience, Volume One, no. 13 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "Holy Thursday", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 18 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "Holy Thursday", op. 27a no. 4 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Haines (b. 1956), "Holy Thursday", 1972-9, rev. 1984, first performed 1979 [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William James Mathias (1934 - 1992), "Holy Thursday", op. 82 no. 5 (1979), published c1987, first performed 1979 [ mezzo-soprano, celesta, harp, piano, and strings ], from Songs of William Blake, no. 5, Oxford : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "Holy Thursday", c1931, first performed 1975 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "Is this a holy thing to see?", op. 46 no. 3 (1950) [ SSA chorus, strings, and piano ], from A Vision, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail
This text was added to the website: 2005-01-17
Line count: 16
Word count: 93