A little boy lost and A little girl lost Flashcards
summary of a little boy lost
In this poem, the ‘father’ of the boy is getting further and further away from him, and the child can’t hear or see him. He is without guidance in the dark but after a time of suffering the ‘vapours’ fly away and he is, presumably, able to find his way back.
summary of a little girl lost
A Little Girl Lost’ is a poem about a girl lost to her father after she thwarts him and makes love with a young man.
In this poem, Blake presents the father as a person who denies his daughter the freedom to love and lead a happy life with her lover. The poet, at the beginning, addresses the coming generation and narrates an incredible event to them.
form and structure of boy:
It begins by unsettling the reader through contrasts of the biblical message.
It gives the impression of negation created along with consonance of ‘n’ sounds
The quatrains of closed couplets lead the reader through the poem of completed statements.
The regularity suggests not to be questioned.
key quotes in boy:
The repetition of ‘father’
‘Father, father where are you going?’
The address of ‘Father’
The interjection of ‘O’
The possessive determiner of ‘your little boy’
Questioning emphasises the child’s anxiety and fear.
Hyperbolic tone—children need guidance.
could be a reference to God—loss of religious faith due to a denial of help.
Conveys the child’s fear; by following with an imperative, it emphasises the pleading and desperation of the child.
Shows a lack of identity and being consigned to his father’s possession - it also reinforces his innocence, as depicted by the adjective ‘little’, but also his fear.
Key quotes in boy:
The anaphora of ‘The’
The imagery of night and darkness
creates an instruction feeling as if the child needs guidance in the world - but also shows a chain of events in that this happens to other young children.
reflects the corruption of darkened urban cities.
Form and struture of boy:
Each stanza follows an AABB rhyme scheme, with the word “asleep” or “sleep” making up many of the rhymes through frequent repetition. The sibilance of these words contributes to the dreamlike quality of the poem.The Little Girl Lost” is unusual in that it is a thirteen-stanza poem, which does not follow the tradition that “perfect” poetry has evenly balanced stanzas.
Key quotes in girl:
“Love! Sweet Love! Was thought to be a crime”
“Naked in the sunny beams delight”
“And the maiden soon forgot her fear”
“All her tender limbs with terror shook”
Blake criticising the churches view of sex and love as it is suppressed through marriage and monogyny.
Shows the maiden in her natural state of being (free and sexually liberated).
maiden is free from the pressures of society?
the parents to be uncaring as they value religious law over their child’s freedom and enjoyment and also strike fear into their child.
