One of a grouping of three settings of poetry by William Blake from his “Songs of Experience” (1794). Soprano solo. The context for this visceral setting of the poem "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." Both stark and achingly tender,the music underscores the harsh "eternal winter" with dramatic soprano solo," phrase repetition and expressive writing for cello.