Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE LITTLE BLACK BOY, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE, by WILLIAM BLAKE Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My mother bore me in the southern wild Last Line: And be like him, and he will then love me. Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Bible; Brotherhood; Freedom; Mothers; Mythology; Racism; Liberty; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry | ||||||||
My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but O! my soul is white; White as an angel is the English child: But I am black as if bereav'd of light. My mother taught me underneath a tree, And sitting down before the heat of day, She took me on her lap and kissed me, And pointing to the east, began to say: "Look on the rising sun: there God does love, And gives his light, and gives his heat away; And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive Comfort in morning, joy in the noon day. "And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love, And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove. "For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear, The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice, Saying: 'Come out from the grove, my love & care, And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.'" Thus did my mother say, and kissed me; And thus I say to little English boy: When I am black and he from white cloud free, And round the tent of God like lambs we joy, I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear To lean in joy upon our father's knee; And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him, and he will then love me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BLACK WOMAN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON FOREDOOM by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON I MUST BECOME A MENACE TO MY ENEMIES by JUNE JORDAN A SONG FOR SOWETO by JUNE JORDAN ON THE LOSS OF ENERGY (AND OTHER THINGS) by JUNE JORDAN POEM ABOUT POLICE VIOLENCE by JUNE JORDAN DRAFT OF A RAP FOR WEN HO LEE by JUNE JORDAN THE NIGHT THAT LORCA COMES by BOB KAUFMAN THE MYSTIC RIVER by GALWAY KINNELL A CRADLE SONG by WILLIAM BLAKE |
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