William Blake, The little black boy

Bysshe ShelleyJohn Keats









The Little Black Boy, William Blake









The Little Black Boy, composed by William Blake is a poem of an African child coming to terms with his skin color. A skin color of blake. Blake builds the poem on clear concept of light and dark. Claiming his color within the the first stanza, "My mother bore me in the southren wild, And I am black, but O! my soul is white". Claiming his soul to be white . A poem showing the contrast of the child's black skin and his belief in the whiteness of his soul. With white being heavenly and black being devilish. The little black boy is showing he is capable and deserving of perfect love as a white person is.





The child's mother symbolizes a natural and selfless love. She shows a concern for her child's self-esteem, as well as a strong desire that he is knowledgeable of God. "Look on the rising sin: there is God does live, and gives his heat away." His mother suggests that his earthly life is but a preparation for the rewards of heaven. Basically, skin is temporary, your eternal essence is what matters. Skin, which is a factor only in this earthly life, becomes useless in heaven.









The black boy applies his mother's life lessons to his everyday. "Thus my mother say, and kissed me; When I from black and he form white cloud free".The little black boy explains to another white boy, they are equals, but that neither will be truly free until they are released from the constraints of the physical world. He even imagines himself shading and protecting his friend from the brightness of God's love until he can become accustomed to it. This helps show the black boy is more knowledge of heaven and God were mroe advanced than the white boy. Perhaps this sense of understanding is the effect of having dark skin. His mother prepared him with the knowledge of having pride in your skin color not shame. Blake however, did not give a response of the white boy.