“The Little Black Boy” 1/16/2010

The Little Black Boy

My mother bore me in the southern wild,

And I am black, but O! my soul is white.

White as an angel is the English child:

But I am black as if bereav'd of light.My mother taught me underneath a tree

And sitting down before the heat of day.

She took me on her lap and kissed me,

And pointing to the east began to say.Look on the rising sun: there God does live

And gives his light, and gives his heat away.

And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive

Comfort in morning joy in the noon day.And we are put on earth a little space..

That we may learn to bear the beams of love.

And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face

Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear

The cloud will vanish we shall hear his voice.

Saying: come out from the grove my love & care.

And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.Thus did my mother say and kissed me.

And thus I say to little English boy.

When I from black and he from white cloud free,

And round the tent of God like lambs we joy:Ill shade him from the heat till he can bear,

To lean in joy upon our fathers knee.

And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,

And be like him and he will then love me.

By William Blake



“The Little Black Boy” is a poem about a young boy from Africa telling the story about when he started to accept the color of his skin. In the beginning of the poem the boy constantly refers to his soul being white as the English child he wants to assimilate. He only accepts his identity when mother teaches him about God. She says that God lives in the East and gives comfort and joy to men. William Blake uses the mother to symbolize his ideals of the Bible. He explains that people are put on earth to learn to accept God’s love. My favorite part of the poem is when the mother tells the boy that his black skin “is but a cloud” that will be dissipated when his soul meets God in heaven. The black boy then teaches the lesson to the English child and promises that when they are both free of their bodies and delighting in the presence of God, he will shade his white friend until he learns to bear the heat of God’s love. Then, the black boy says, he will be like the English boy, and the English boy will love him. Little Black Boy is a great five stanza poem, that teaches people to love appreciate themselves.