The Little Black Boy (Songs of Innocence)
The Little Black Boy (Songs of Innocence) Lyrics
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:
About
From Blake’s Songs of Innocence, published in 1794, this was one of the series of poems which present an idealised world, in contrast to the harsh realities of late 18th and early 19th Century life during the time of King George III, known — ironically given the terrible social conditions of the time — as the Romantic Era. Each poem in the “Songs of Innocence” category is matched by a grim portrayal in Songs of Experience. The contrast is Blake’s method of social protest.
One of Blake’s most thorny poems, especially in a modern context, concerns a young black boy who questions why he is treated like a second-class human being while his mother tries to comfort him. It is worth noting that Blake sided with Abolitionists, but the poem still poses a rather nuanced and difficult presentation of race relations.
Structure
There are seven quatrains, that is, four-lined stanzas. The metrical rhythm is iambic pentameter, that is five metrical feet per line. A iamb or metrical foot is made up of one unstressed and one stressed syllable. This creates a solemn, stately, regular tread, suitable for the subject. The rhyme scheme is broadly ABAB in each stanza, although some is consonantly rhymed, as in stanza four lines two and four.
Language and Imagery
The voice changes from that of the boy to that of the poet; their respective views on suffering and God’s protection are complementary. The logic is neat and clear, emphasised by the end-stopped lines and largely monosyllabic lexis.
The symbolism of black and white dominate the poem, though black is never presented as evil, but its opposite.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 2.The Shepherd
- 4.The Lamb
- 5.The Little Black Boy (Songs of Innocence)
- 6.The Blossom
- 10.Laughing Song
- 11.A Cradle Song
- 14.Night
- 17.Infant Joy
- 18.A Dream