Analytical Essay of "The Little Black Boy" by 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 bereaved of light.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And, sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissèd me,
And, pointing to the East, began to say:

'Look at 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 sunburnt face
Are 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 and care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice."'

Thus did my mother say, and kissèd 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,

I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.


William Blake’s “The Little Black Boy” is a poem that is narrated by a young black boy during a period of time when slavery was still legal. Many people who read this poem seem to have a problem deciding if Blake projects a view that a stereotypical black child of this time would be thought to have, or if he actually shows readers an accurate version of the child. As for myself, I absolutely do not believe that Blake had any intention of insulting or criticizing any race. The image of the little boy that I see is of one who has been brought up to believe that he is to protect the little white boy. He has been raised believing that white represents all things that are good, which is shown when the black boy insists in the second line that his soul is white. What I am seeing here is a young boy who has lived his entire life serving people who are different from him. These people are all white. While he’s grown up physically serving white people, he has been spiritually serving God. In the third line, he compares the white English child to an angel. This further proves that in this day, white was often thought to mean pure, heavenly, and good. On the other hand, black was thought to represent death and evil. Just when I was about to believe that Blake was a bit racist, I read the fourth line. This line explains that the boy feels “bereaved of light”, which means that he has been blocked from the sun. I took this to mean that he felt that his dark colored skin would prevent God from seeing him in the same way He saw the young English boy. From the very moment I read this line, I have believed that the image Blake was attempting to portray was not one that taunted a race. Instead, I believe that Blake felt very strongly against these racial stereotypes. Since this was in a time with the slavery movements were just beginning, perhaps Blake found that the best way he could contribute to the cause would be to give everyone a new insight on what it was really like to grow up as a slave. Blake’s point in presenting this certain image was to educate white Americans in the hope that they would see how unfair slavery was. I think that the reason Blake writes about the black child questioning God is to mock Christians who were supporters of slavery being legal. It seems as if Blake believed that since God created all men, then they should all be treated as equals. By having his young narrator express the belief that God would see him as being less worthy than His white believers, Blake manages to show his readers what their actions were implying about their belief in God and His word. Blake presents a connection between God and the sun, and I find it ironic that the color black is known to absorb and retain heat from sunlight, while white is known for staying cooler and reflecting sunlight. Also, Blake implies that the black boy is not bothered by the heat, and seems to be used to it. I believe Blake was implying that the black child had been a faithful servant his entire life. Because he maintained his faith in God through all of these trials and hard times, the black boy is much closer to God than the English boy.

Blake’s description of a black boy’s thoughts shows readers an image that makes fun of the stereotypical black person while also showing how he feels about this stereotype. Many readers believe that this image is too stereotypical, which often causes them to misunderstand the rest of the poem. I find that by making the black child so eager to be seen as an equal to the white boy, Blake was trying to emphasize the ridiculous idea that an entire race of God’s people could be convinced to believe that they were made by God with the purpose to serve the white race. By using a young child, Blake is able to present an innocent point of view. If he had used an adult black man, the poem would have had an angry tone rather than an honest one. It is even possible that Blake predicted that his readers would feel more sympathy for a child, even if the child was a slave. I am also aware of many stories from the slave era that describe the black women as being comforting, caring, and dedicated mothers. However, in this poem, every verb describing an action made by the mother is in past tense. This led me to believe that she had passed away, and he was simply remembering what she’d told him at some point in the past. While this does play into the comforting mother stereotype, I do not think that Blake had any negative implications or intentions.

I do not think that Blake’s use of a stereotypical black child makes this poem any less effective. Blake uses this stereotype to show readers that no matter how white people treated black people on Earth, they would be treated as equals in Heaven. It seems as if he’s making a desperate attempt to show that the young black child seems as if he would do anything in the world for God’s love. This being said, it also seems as if Blake is implying that white people believed that they deserved to go to Heaven. Clearly, he stereotyped white people, too. I think that he did this to show that stereotypes are hurtful for everyone. Blake also stereotypes God, using the well-known description of a strong and powerful God with silver hair. Also, he describes Heaven as a “golden tent”, which goes along with the popular image of a heaven filled with streets of gold. If anything, Blake’s use of stereotypes gives significance to the entire poem. Without it, it would not prove a thing. Blake understands that as a writer, one must grab everyone’s attention in order to get his/her views out there and heard. When dealing with a controversial issue, a writer must be willing to take risks. Blake took that risk, and because he did, he showed his support for the fight to abolish slavery.