The context for "Holy Thursday" from Blake's "Songs of Experience" is the annual Ascension Thursday service at St Paul's Cathedral; orphaned children from London's charity schools sang as they were paraded into St Paul's for religious services. Blake views "rich and fruitful" 19th c. Britain as a "land of poverty," and the future of these orphans as an "eternal winter." This visceral setting is both stark and tender; the music underscores "eternal winter" with dramatic soprano solo," phrase repetition and arching cello lines.