The Little Black Boy

Question 1

Summarise the little black boy

Answer 1

• A little black boy muses on his position in the world
• he tries to explain both Gods purpose and the differences between human beings

Question 2

What does the poem begin by doing?

Answer 2

Revealing some of the racist attitudes of the time that it will attempt to argue against

Question 3

Give some context about racial attitudes of the time (slavery)

Answer 3

In the late 1700s, the transatlatic slave trade was fully underway.
- ships sailed to Africa where white slave traders enslaved people and for ht emost part transported them across the atlantic to new lives of cruelty

Question 4

What does the little black boy advocate for>?

Answer 4

• Anti slavery and racial equality

Question 5

What did blake write this poem with?

Answer 5

He wrote about the issue of slavery with force and conviction

Question 6

Why did Blake write little black boy?

Answer 6

to assist the society for the abolition of the salve trade which was formed in 1782

Question 7

What demonstrates the churches hypocrisy in the little black boy?

Answer 7

a combination of religious elements and the known background of the church being racist

Question 8

What is the form of the little black boy?

Answer 8

The speaker is a child and there is a nursery rhyme like simplicity

Question 9

What is the rhyme of the litttle black boy?

Answer 9

7 Stanzas, quatrain ABAB

Question 10

What is the meter of the little black boy?

Answer 10

iambic pentameter
- there are some points where the meter changes
- it is one of the only songs written in Imabic pentameter

Question 11

Why can the whole poem be considered a paradox?

Answer 11

because while Blake justifies their existence and campaigns for their rights the speaker still reverts to his biased behaviour which treats the white English by as a level higher than himself

Question 12

“The little English boy”

Answer 12

The English child is seen as pure and superior, holy, like an angel.
- the speaker passes on a lesson to the ‘English boy’ that earthly identity is temporary because all are equal in the afterlife

Question 13

“the cloud will vanish”

Answer 13

image of equality and joyful communion

Question 14

“southern wild”

Answer 14

immediate stereotype
- ‘wild’ = black people were considered as savages

Question 15

“Black bodies and this sun-burnt skin”

Answer 15

• both these things are just a mask and temporary
• implies a closeness to God as only those close to god (/ the sun) are the ones who absorb all his love
• pride rather than shame

Question 16

repetition of “heat”

Answer 16

Heat is an oppressive force in this life but a positive one in the afterlife

Question 17

Polysyndeton of ‘and’

Answer 17

Emphasises the benevolence of God

Question 18

“but i am black as if bereaved of light”

Answer 18

• light is used as an allusion to god
• lacking the light of god, suggests sadness and greif, Blake suggests this is how the world makes the boy feel

Question 19

“come out from the grove”

Answer 19

Idyllic grove evokes ideas about the garden of eden
- there is an idealised verison of the afterlife here

Question 20

“… tent of god like lambs we joy”

Answer 20

Repeated lamb simile in the afterlife, children of all races will play together free from their original identities
- presents god as a good shephers

Question 21

‘cloud’ ‘cloud’

Answer 21

Cloud metaphor creates idea that earthly identities (including race) is a cloud, a temporary identity that will eventually pass

Question 22

“I am black, but oh! my soul is white”

Answer 22

Exclamation mark creates ceasure, image of the boy being pure and joyfull of the inside but society portray him as dark and untrustworthy

Question 23

Antithesis of black and white

Answer 23

Emphasises that the colour of our skin doesnt mean anything - we are all the children of God and will eventually be equal there together

Question 24

“then ill stand and stroke his silver hair”

Answer 24

• Traditional Christian depiction of paternal god
• the use of the future tense here creates the idea that the little boy has listened to his mother and has accepted he will go to heaven
  he believes one day he will be equal to everyone else

Question 25

“My mother bore me” “my mother taught me”

Answer 25

• parrallelism = emphasis the mothers importance in the sons life - her love and teaching shaped his world

Question 26

What is the mother teaching the boyt in the little black boy?

Answer 26

That his skin colout is a special gift from God to enable him to bear the beams of love

Question 27

What do the interactions between the mother and child in the little black boy indicate?

Answer 27

The tenderness the speaker expects from god

Question 28

“whitew as an angel is the english child”

Answer 28

• Shocking simile to the modern reader - it is indicating that the black child is like the devil
• creates the idea that this idea is deeply engraved in the Childs mind

Question 29

“thus did my mother say and kissed me”

Answer 29

conclusion of mothers words - repeated image of tenderness between mother and son

Question 30

“shady grove”

Answer 30

metaphor signifies protection and concealment

Question 31

“learn to bear the beams of love”

Answer 31

mothers lesson: earthly life prepares the soul for the afterlife
- alliteration = hard plosive sound

Question 32

What does the mother teach the son in the little black boy?

Answer 32

how to not become corrupt by society

Question 33

What are the main themes in the little black boy?

Answer 33

Religion
Spirituality
Afterlife
Identity
Love
Racial Equality