The little black boy - William Blake

1. The Little Black Boy
Written By: William Blake
Presented By: Ponce and Kyle Uto

2. William Blake (1757-1827)
•Born on Nov. 28, 1757 in
London
•Visions at a young age
–Saw God and angels in a tree
–Claimed to talk to his dead brother
Robert
•Married Catherine Boucher in
1782
–She couldn’t read, so she signed
her wedding contract with a “X”
–Blake later taught her how to read
and write
–No children
•Died Aug. 12, 1827

3. History
•Published in 1789
–Slavery was still legal

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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:

10. 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.

11. Quick Facts
•Speaker – little black boy
•Setting – Slavery days
•Initial situation – He’s black
•Problem solved – His mother teaches him
about God

12. Summary
•The little black boy explains that even
though his skin is black, his soul is white.
•He states that he learned about God and
His creations from his mother
•He then explains his teachings to an
English boy

13. Form
•Heroic Quatrains
–Pentameter lines
–ABAB

14. Metaphors
•Sun = God and his kingdom
•“Look on the rising sun: there
God does live” (line 9)
–Slavery at the time
–“rising” refers to “change”
•Change was going to happen with
slavery
•Slavery ended in 1863 with the
Emancipation Proclamation

15. Imagery
•Black and white = dark and light
–“And I am black, but O! my soul is white” (line
2)
–“When I from black and he from white cloud
free,” (line 23)

16. Black
•“But I am black as if bereav’d of light.” (line
4)
–He thinks he is so black that he is deprived of
light
•Dark skin is just an outer appearance
–Only on earthy life
•God looks at your soul (inside)
–Therefore, does not matter what color skin
one has

17. White
•“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.” (lines
15-18)
•God looks at your soul (inside)
–Skin color will disappear when one meets
God. He only looks on the inside.

18. Romantic Period
•Individuals
–A lot of “I”
•Youth
–Little boy
•Equality
–Little black boy tells little white boy that they
are equals.