The Little Black Boy

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Critical Analysis of “The Little Black Boy” By: William Blake Cadigra Nedd, Jasmine Butterfield, Channing Gray, Samuel Silva March 5, 2012 English IV The poem the “Little Black Boy” by William Blake from his Songs of Innocence, plunges into the distressing yet triumphal emotions of racism from the position of an ingenuous black boy, who has yet to see the brutality and wickedness of racism. Many blacks all over the world used coping mechanisms in order to withstand the racism whether it was singing negro spirituals or telling stories. The mother of the black child in this poem creates explanations for her child resulting in him delighting in his skin color. In the poem the little black boy says that the little English boy is an angel because of his white skin but he is black as bereaved of light. When analyzing the sentence the word “as” shows that this little boy does not think he is absent of light. When reading this excerpt of the poem, you become aware of pride and hope that the little black boy possess. This is completely opposite to the racism of his day. The pride and dignity of many black people during the strong wave of racism and segregation became scarred or almost non-existent. He goes on to recite words his mother told him. She said, God lives in the east on the rising sun and he gives light and heat away. He continues reciting his mother’s words, saying they were place on earth to learn how to bear the beams of love, meaning they are on earth to learn how to tolerate the heat that God evokes. She describes their bodies as black bodies with sun brunt faces and compares their bodies to clouds and a shady grove. He precedes by saying when they have learned to bear the heat, God will welcome them into heaven. He says when he and the little boy goes to heaven (him a black cloud and the little English boy a white cloud) he
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