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William Blake

The Little Black Boy by William Blake

‘The Little Black Boy’ by William Blake is a difficult poem. It delves into topics of race, racism, and slavery
from the perspective of an 18th-century poet.

William Blake included ‘The Little Black Boy’ in his collection Songs of Innocence, published in 1789. The
poem is considered to be one of the most uncomfortable of Blake’s poems. This is because it deals with
the issues of racism and slavery. The black race suffers in order to teach the white world wisdom, but
the black child deplores his own color since it seems to prevent the world from realizing his purity of
soul.

Blake’s humanism is evident in this poem. In an age when black people were treated worse than
animals, he makes a black woman and child the guardians of selfless giving which is the essence of true
Christianity. While this poem emphasizes the philosophy of Christ, there is yet ambivalence. While in the
English countryside, every child has the birthright of divine love, the little black boy has to strive to be
worthy of acceptance. The black child has to cast off his colored skin to find friendship with the white
child.

The Little Black Boy

William Blake

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 noonday.

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.

Explore The Little Black Boy

1 Analysis of The Little Black Boy2 Personal Comments3 About William Blake

The Little Black Boy by William Blake

Analysis of The Little Black Boy

The black child, like the Chimney Sweeper, teaches that life is something to escape from; which means
in many ways it portrays a tragic vision but the poem retains its innocence because there is a belief in
happiness and redemption. The poem is a poem of transition, a poem of doubt in the heart of the poet
as he explores prejudices and racial issues. It is a searching poem, which gives the reader an insight into
how Blake saw the world.

Stanza One

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.

The poem, ‘The Little Black Boy,’ begins with the little black boy himself narrating. The boy tells the
reader how his mother gave birth to him in the southern forest of Africa. So, he is black but only his skin
is black while his soul is white (the whiteness of course represents purity). His spirit (soul) is as white as
an angel. I think the insinuation is that the black child is bemoaning his skin, because it gives the
appearance that he is “bereav’d of light”.

Stanza Two

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.

The second stanza of the poem continues the narration by the black boy. In these four lines, he tells the
readers that his mother brought him up and taught him in the shade of a tree in the face of the heat of
the sun. Seating herself down facing the heat of the day, the mother made her son sit on her lap and
kissed him lovingly. Then pointing with her finger to the direction of the east (where the sun rises), the
mother started speaking to her child in the following manner.

Stanza Three

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 noonday.

The third stanza of four lines contains the statement of the mother to her son. The mother directs the
attention of her black boy to look at the rising sun and tells him that God does live there. From there the
sun provides light and heat to the creatures of the world. All flowers, trees, beasts, and human beings
receive from the sun comfort in the morning and happiness at noon. You can see here the Christian
undertones. Many people would have considered black people to be savages so the idea of them being
Christian and worthy of gods light would have been alien to them. yet Blake bravely attacks and subverts
this dated concept.

Stanza Four

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.

The mother continues speaking to her little boy in the fourth stanza wherein she tells her son that
human beings are provided a little space in order to learn to bear the big rays of love. They become
worthy of God’s love and illumination. She says that the black bodies and sun-tanned faces are like
clouds and like shady groves for them. What this means is that although one might associate a black
body with negativity, it can be likened to a shadow and that a shadow is a relief on a sunny day. She is
effectively showing her son that despite the color of his skin he belongs.

Stanza Five

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.

In the fifth stanza of ‘The Little Black Boy,’ the mother tells the boy that when the bodies of the blacks,
like the mother and the son, become accustomed to tolerating the heat of the sun, their souls will be
free of the cloud, and they will be able to hear a divine voice asking them to come out of the grove to
the divine care and love, to move about happily round the golden tent like happy lambs (lambs being
religiously associated with the divine). Here in this stanza, the body is seen as a garment of the soul to
be worn on earth. Once the child is spiritually prepared to face the brilliance of heaven this material
protection is no longer necessary.

Stanza Six

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:

In the next stanza, the boy resumes speaking and tells the readers that his mother kissed him. He then
addresses a young white boy. He says that when the black boy and the white boy become free from
black skin and white skin, they, like lambs (flocks), will play around the tent of God merrily. “The black
boy renders selfless services to the white child for he has grown through suffering. The white child is
frailer spiritually for he has been protected from suffering and experience.” So although both children
will make it to heaven, the young black boy will be spiritually richer for having endured what he has on
earth. For the time this idea would have been highly controversial but in keeping with the liberal nature
of many poets.

Stanza Seven

I’ll 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.

In the last four lines of the poem, the narrator is the little black boy himself. He feels that although his
body is black and considered by many to be inferior, his soul, and his spiritual self is as fine as a white
child’s. So it would appear he has taken his mother’s teachings to heart. The poet says that the black boy
will shade the white boy from the beams of God’s love. And that acts as a body or garment to the white
child’s soul or body. As the black boy has endured greater suffering on earth, he will help the white boy
learn to bear the beams of God’s love. After the white boy learns to bear the beams of love, then
touching the white boy will become possible. Under the influence of God’s love, they will be perhaps
equal and similar. Then in this position of apparent equality, the white boy will instantly love the black
boy.

Personal Comments

Blake wrote ‘The Little Black Boy’ just about the time when the Mission established by the Methodist
Society was first founded in 1787, and the trend of religious thought was turning toward preaching the
Christian gospel to the black races. Black boys were commonly employed as servants in big English
houses. In this poem, Blake has pointed out the comparison between the black and the white boy. In the
poem, the little black boy accepts his life as a gift from God. He takes it gracefully just as it is given and
uses it to good purposes, though that life is not an easy one. He is probably a slave, regarded by his
overseer as one “bereaved of light,” a beast of burden destined for an existence of hard toil. No wonder
he cannot refer to God’s gift simply as a delightful one. The “light” and the “heat” are received by
“flowers and trees and beasts and men” as comfort in morning, joy in the noonday,” but the “beams of
love” are also something that he must “learn to bear.” He is thankful for his life, but knows only too well
that it is a hard one.

About William Blake

Born in London in November 1757, William Blake made a modest but promising start as a poet, as a
painter, and as a book illustrator. He was the most remarkable poet among the precursors of the
Romantic Revival in English. There were five children in his family, with Blake being the second one. It
seems that the deprivation and denial of love from the family might have generated in his mind an
exotic imaginary world of his own. Between 1789 and 1795, Blake began a series of poems and designs
in his illuminated printing that constitute his greatest achievement.

On the whole, William Blake’s poetry is as delightful as it is challenging, and its wide appeal ranges from
the deceptive cadence of his lullaby-like songs and pastorals to the troubling notes of the tragedy of the
lapsed soul and the stormy music of the prophetic works.

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Dharmender Kumar Poetry Expert

About Dharmender Kumar

Dharmender is a writer by passion, and a lawyer by profession. He has has a degree in English literature
from Delhi University, and Mass Communication from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan, Delhi, as well as holding
a law degree. Dharmender is awesomely passionate about Indian and English literature.

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21 COMMENTS

Newest

Faris

Faris

Your analysis is completely skewed. I detect a clear intent to color the poem as a racist screed. I would
be glad to debate you at any time.

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Faris

Quite the opposite – The author of this article claims in the second paragraph that Blake is trying to
make a humanist statement.

Reply

Don

Don

Reply to Faris

Your comments regarding the analysis are, I think, skewed as well. I would like to know what particular
thoughts in the analysis prompted your comments regarding the analysis as an attempt to paint the
poem as ‘a racist screed’. It appears from my reading of the poem that the subsequent analysis pointed
out the intent of Blake as an, at the time, controversial attempt to address the humanity and thus
perhaps the superiority of the black experience for experiencing enlightenment and salvation.

Reply
Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Don

I think the fact that we are having this conversation suggests he was successful to that end.

Reply

Salam Nasser

Salam Nasser

1787 !!!! 2020 : George Floyd is murdered by a “white” policeman/criminal ! It seems we haven’t
learned yet to bear the beams of love .. God help us .

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Salam Nasser

I don’t want to stray down the path of entering into political discourse, but society still has a way to go
before true equality is achieved. 🙁

Reply

NHLANHLA LUCKY KHOZA

NHLANHLA LUCKY KHOZA

hi can i get a STIFF analysis of this poem

0
Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to NHLANHLA LUCKY KHOZA

I’m not sure I know what STIFF means in this context.

Reply

Ndatulu Malugu

Ndatulu Malugu

Well done sir.

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Ndatulu Malugu

Thank you.

Reply

Daudi jumanne

Daudi jumanne

Thanks alot
0

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Daudi jumanne

Thank you for reading!

Reply

Mitch

Mitch

I think this analysis is crap and written poorly. Even your description has mistakes in it.

Reply

Mitch

Mitch

Reply to Mitch

In your personal comment you use a racial slur to describe the black child. You have no understanding of
the English language and have completely misinterpreted this poem

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Mitch
Our team agrees that this probably isn’t the site’s best analysis. Following your comments we have
reworded much of it so it is more appropriate. Thank you for your feedback it helps us to improve.

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Mitch

This analysis did need a lot of rewording and we have done this.

Reply

Harikrishnan B

Harikrishnan B

I went through this page and found some really heart touching parts…..I am very much greatful for those
who created this page and thanking them for helping me out in my work….thanks a lot guys

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to Harikrishnan B

you’re more than welcome. Glad we were able to enrich your life!

Reply
kishan kr

kishan kr

thanks sir for ur effort explaining this

kishan kr

kishan kr

Reply to kishan kr

need to contact u.need ur specific help academically.how i shoud

contact u?

Reply

Lee-James Bovey Editor

Lee-James Bovey

Reply to kishan kr

Hi there, there is a contact page on the web site. We aim to respond as soon as possible. Thanks for
reading.

Reply

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