IN-The Little Black Boy

Question 1

The little black boy is told that his black skin “is but a cloud” that will what?

Answer 1

that will dissipate when his soul meets God in heaven

Question 2

What does this poem centre?

Answer 2

the spiritual awakening to a divine love that transcends race

Question 3

What lends poignancy to the poem in the first stanza?

Answer 3

where the child’s black skin is contrasted to his belief in the whiteness of his soul, his problem of self understanding is at first limited

Question 4

Why may the black child suggest that his “soul is white”?

Answer 4

as in a culture in which black and white connote as bad and good, the child develops a sense of self which requires him to use the symbols of colour to present his message that all men are equal

Question 5

What is the purpose of the statement that he is “black as if bereav’d of light”?

Answer 5

this underscores the gravity of the problem and reflects how the gesture of this poem is to counteract this “as if” in a way that shows him to be as capable and deserving of perfect love as a white person

Question 6

What does the child’s mother symbolise?

Answer 6

the natural and selfless love that becomes the poem’s ideal

Question 7

In accordance with what does the mother persuade her child that earthly life is but a preparation of the rewards of heaven?

Answer 7

according to conventional Christian doctrine

Question 8

The theology of the poem is one that counsels __________ in the present and promises a __________ for suffering in the hereafter.

Answer 8

forbearance

recompense

Question 9

What does the boy explain to the white boy?

Answer 9

that they are equals but that neither will be truly free until they are released from the constraints of the physical world

Question 10

What does the black boy do to help the white boy?

Answer 10

he shades his friend from the brightness of God’s love until he can become accustomed to it

Question 11

Why may the black boy be more accustomed to heaven?

Answer 11

because of the greater burden of his dark skin having imposed on his earthly life as part of the consoling vision with which his mother has prepared him

Question 12

What does the fact that the mother provides the little black boy with a consoling vision do?

Answer 12

it allows his suffering to become a source of pride as posed to shame

Question 13

Why may the beliefs and outlooks of the little black boy strike the reader as containing a naive blindness?

Answer 13

as it is not realistic of the oppression and racism and instead perpetuates a too-passive acceptance of suffering and injustice

Question 14

Black’s humanism in this poem made him what?

Answer 14

rebel against slavery

Question 15

In an age when the black race was treat with hostility, Black makes a black woman and child the guardians of what?

Answer 15

of a selfless giving which is the essence of true christianity

Question 16

the little black boy along with which other poem teaches that life is something to escape from which is a tragic vision?

Answer 16

Chimney Sweeper

Question 17

What does this poem date?

Answer 17

the dawn of the anti-slavery movement

Question 18

How is it clear that the little black boy feels physically inferior to his white counterpart?

Answer 18

as the english child is “white as an angel” while he is pictured as a benighted heathen’-“black as if bereav’d of light”

Question 19

What quote supports that the white boy would not be strong enough?

Answer 19

he would have to “lean—upon our father’s knee”

Question 20

How are both white and black skin described?

Answer 20

as “clouds” which both interfere with the sun’s rays of God’s love, dulling our perception of the things all races have in common, shared humanity

Question 21

in the poem it is said that bodies are like “clouds” which will disspear once people have learned to “”?

Answer 21

bear the beams of love

Question 22

What belief does Blake attack?

Answer 22

the 18th century belief in racial inferiority

Question 23

How does Blake attack the 18th century belief of racial inferiority?

Answer 23

by asserting the insubstantial, ephemeral (temproal) nature of the body which are simply vapours masking the true self like a “cloud”

Question 24

What does the tone and approach suggest about the young boy?

Answer 24

that he has an uncomplaining acceptance of the injustice behind this judgment of inferiority

Question 25

How does Blake expose the limitations of innocence when the little black boy hopes that “he will love me then”?

Answer 25

as he seems to lack awareness as the innocence of the black boy makes him vulnerable to injustice and exploitation

Question 26

How does Blake seem to satirise the approach of contemporary christianity as well as attacking notions of white superiority?

Answer 26

by suggesting that in Heaven the black boy will be the noble, loving and generous one

Question 27

There are hints of anti-slavery sentiments and an opposition to racism occur; however what is the main message?

Answer 27

the equality of human beings

Question 28

How is the message of human equality emphasised?

Answer 28

by the depiction of God creating the world as an act of divine mercy, giving the sun to shine upon and warm all people everywhere as a preparation for the light and heat of his love

Question 29

Why does the mother suggest her childs skin is black?

Answer 29

to dim the suns light and heat

Question 30

While Blake suggests the two boys will one day be equal in God’s love, what does the poem suggest?

Answer 30

that the black boy’s trials in life will result in his being spiritually superior to the untried white boy

Question 31

How does Blake reverse racial stereotypes in this poem?

Answer 31

he denies the white boy a voice and forwards the view that it is the black boy who is superior spiritually

Question 32

Since the boy learns from his mother from ‘underneath a tree’, which Blake’s Christian audience would associate to the Tree of knowledge- what is the effect of this?

Answer 32

the effect of this is that the lesson the boy is given, although reassuring, is one which is a lesson to fallen human beings just as Adam and Eve fell. He is naively innocent in passively accepting his oppression and it is therefore perpetuated

Question 33

How does “lambs” suggest innocence?

Answer 33

as Jesus is portrayed as the “Lamb of God” who takes away the sins of the world in John 1:29

Question 34

What is “lamb” associated with?

Answer 34

with human violence and treachery, with the consequences of evil- the boy becomes a sacrificial figure

Question 35

For Blake, when was innocence insufficient?

Answer 35

when it was also ignorant to the realities of the fallen world. such ignorance made innocent people prey to the devouring forces within the fallen world

Question 36

What form of contemporary Christianity did Blake attack which was a consistent teaching of the New Testament?

Answer 36

the one which taught people to accept present suffering and injustice because of the promises of bliss and the absence of all suffering in the next world

Question 37

Although the poem might seem to suggest that the black boys acts upon his presumed subservience to white deals, how can the conclusion be read?

Answer 37

that actually, the black boy too has his place in the scheme of things; and the white boy may not be able to bear the proscence of God without the protection offered by his back brother

Question 38

This is one of the very few Songs written in Pentameter which might suggest what?

Answer 38

the measure of seriousness Blake accorded to the subject

Question 39

What quote suggests that the black boy is providing a kind of education to the white boy?

Answer 39

the way he stroke his “silver hair” as if a parental figure and realising that whiteness cannot withstand the scorching force of God’s heat

Question 40

How do we hear the voice of God?

Answer 40

it is mediated through the mother and child