The little boy Lost and Found Flashcards
Summary of the 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 the little boy found
Blake pictures a crying boy out in the wilderness, unaware of the nature of his misdemeanour.
The fact that the boy was lost signifies that he might have strayed from his original innocence. However, through the guidance of God he is led back to his mother, this exemplifies the pureness and innocence of children
structure and form of the little boy lost
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.
The closing rhetorical questions create a change from the completed statements previously seen and it challenges the reader to question the face of society shown in the poem.
Key quotes of the little boy lost
The repetition of ‘father’ and questioning emphasises the child’s anxiety and fear.
‘Father, father where are you going?’ has a hyperbolic tone - children need guidance.
The half-rhyme of ‘fast’ and ‘lost’ conveys how quickly innocence is lost in the world, in the time Blake was writing.
The anaphora of ‘The’ 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.
The imagery of night and darkness reflects the corruption of darkened urban cities.
Key quotes of the little boy found
-The ‘lost’ symbolises humanities misguidance and straying from God
-A ‘fen’ is swampy and treacherous, metaphorical of the difficult journey of life.
-The personification of the light shows humanity as distracted by false divineness
-The white father represents purity and good, representing heavenly God, protector of children.
-The reunion is natural and peaceful, the character of the mother is a nurturing figure
- The internal rhyme in ‘pale’ and ‘dale’ creates harmony
-In reality, as Blake was well aware, a lost child might have remained lost until it starved to death, or was forced to beg. This is an idealised depiction..
(AO5) Critical Readings and Alternative Perceptions:
If we accept the evidence of the illumination, and there is no father there, then we have a poem which entirely reverses the connotations of the lamb and the shepherd; here there is no ‘good shepherd’ […] the innocence of the poem can only reside in the little boy’s attitude certainly not in the world in which he finds himself.”
The child represents the human spirit seeking the conventional, ‘promised’ God which proves non-existent. In the illumination, the father is represented by the vapour misleading the child [and angels/stars represent the salvation of the imagination.
The ending of the poem could suggest that the ‘vapour’ is either dispersed by the little boy’s acceptance of his grief or that its flight is a greater abandonment and deception, leading to further suffering.
The poem can be read as a symbol of human faith and the need for guidance and protection. Only when the child accepts he is fully lost and cries does the vapour disperse and his mind is freed to return to the knowledge and belief in God.
