“The Little Black Boy” and “A Little Boy Lost” are poems included in “Songs of
Innocence” and in “Songs of Experience” by British poet William Blake.
“The Little Black Boy” argues for racial equality insisting that earthly identity is
temporary and that all are worthy of God's Divine love. This is told through the
voice of a “little black boy” who in turn is recounting the lessons taught to him by
his mother in the Southern wild (Africa).
Blake is generally known as a radical forward thinking artist, to the extent that he
was largely ignored in his own lifetime, and the poem aims for an empowering
message. That said it also reinforces many negative and outright racist
stereotypes about black people that were prevalent in the 18th Century and
indeed, remain so today.
On the contrary, “A Little Boy Lost” is more spiritual. This choice to weave a
religious narrative within another storyline would not be unusual for Blake who
was known for his depictions of spirituality and mythology. The young boy
becomes anyone lost in their life, searching for “someone” “a father” “God” or
religion to guide them. The boy is desperate,pleading and praying for salvation.
Only when the boy cries and accepts the predicament he is in, do the “vapours”
fly away, freeing his mind and perhaps returning him to the knowledge and belief
in God.
Even “The Little Black Boy” has an underlying tone of sadness by the way in
which the boy begins to understand his social constraints because he is black,
and only in death will he be seen as equal to the English boy, “A little boy Lost”
represent the relationship between humans and our spiritual lives with the
Biblical God.
