A literary analysis of the little black boy by william blake

Although much greater recognition is given to poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats for setting the Romantic trends in the history of English literature, one cannot totally ignore the contributions of Blake in the same regard as he was the one who sowed the seeds of Romanticism through his subjective poetry that vibrated with revolutionary zest and protest against the social evils present during his time that were practiced in the name of politics and religion. In the Songs of Innocence, this major social issue has been perceived through the eyes of a little boy who takes every misery that his inflicted upon him in his stride with the hopes of a better tomorrow. This little boy is unaware of the gross injustice being done to him.

For the Songs of Experience analysisfollow the link! In William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Innocence there is an immense contrast between the death, weeping, exploitation, and oppression that Tom Dacre endures and the childlike innocence that enables him to be naive about his grave situation and the widespread injustice in society.

Tom Dacre's imagination takes him on a lovely journey with his ultimate hope of being nurtured and cared for by His Father in Heaven. William Blake creates sympathy and sharp awareness for chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, who represents other neglected children in poverty, by introducing his personal tragedy at the beginning of the poem.

We weep with Tom as his innocence is being forcibly stolen from him. His sacrificial life to society is emphasized as William Blake shares a narrative of Tom Dacre's hair, that symbolizes lamb's hair, is shaved off. Even deeper the lamb symbolizes the Christian theme of Christ's purity, sacrifice to humanity and temporal neglect of His Father.

The middle of the poem brings heartfelt smiles as we witness the pristine plain being enjoyed by children filled with laughter and happiness.

However this creates more compassion and heartbreak from the reader, as Tom's intense longing to be free from suffering is more evident. At the end of the poem, Tom is given a message to stay a good boy, which produces conflict in emotion for the reader. The reader wants to be as innocent and hopeful and believe the same message.

But as corruption and the unfairness continues, the promise seems empty, impossible to fulfill and almost hurtful. We cringe as we reflect on the historic means that the powerful would use to take advantage of the defenseless, those that were economically disadvantaged and lacked high social status.

We remember the psychological, political and religious philosophies and commands that morally bankrupt leaders used to encourage the defenseless to impose their own self suppression and accept the dictatorship of those in power. However the last stanza quiets the question of the validity of the message and holds the "bright key" to unlock the true, deep message of the poem.

The author is proclaiming a lesson that cannot be ignored by using this technique to appeal to the audience. The sudden lack of rhyme is an abrupt return to the harsh realities away from the innocent and youthful fantasy that chimney sweeper Tom hopes to be fulfilled.

Unlike the exciting and wistful tone of the beautiful dream with happy rhyming ends words such as key and free; run and sun; boy and joy the unrhymed words in the last stanza include dark and work. The "dark" blacks out the wonderfully colorful imagery and the drudgery word "work" ends the playing, fun and happiness.

The k's provide a hard sound which creates emphasis on Tom's conditions that the author doesn't want us to forget. The author is subtly appealing for the justice of Tom and therefore he creates the same bleak feeling of the children through the choice of words such as "coffins of black".

If the last stanza had the same rhyme scene of as the dream the readers would have been tempted to believe the promise of a true positive ending for Tom to maintain his blind and simple obedience.

The last two lines use the words warm and harm that appear to be rhyme by a glance due to the spelling. But the author tricks the readers and instead the words sound different. This prevents the readers from just flowing aimlessly and carelessly through the poem as if it were a delightful nursery rhyme.

The interruption brings even more attention to the message. This was also done in the second stanza with head and said; "bare" and "hair" with spelling that looks differently but rhymes so that we could pay close attention.

The lack of rhyme in the last stanza adds more intensity.William Blake's 'The Little Black Boy' The theme of guardianship, being the act of guarding, protecting, and taking care of another person, is very prominent in William Blake's 'The Little Black Boy';.

This essay presents literary context on William Blake's poem "The Tyger." The essay provides a content synopsis of the poem and contextualizes the content through an exploration of historical, religious, scientific & technological, societal and biographical information.

Blake is deeply influenced by. Infant Joy is taken from the collection of Songs of Innocence, and thus one can find the elements of innocence and carefree hovering in the poem. Before we adapt a critical analysis of the poem, we should know something about Blake’s theory of poetry and his religious views.

The Little Black Boy - Synopsis and commentary Synopsis of The Little Black Boy. An African child compares his outward appearance with a white child's, but asserts that his soul is white.

He then recounts his mother's teaching. Dec 16,  · William Blake is a romantic poet. The sparks of romanticism are vividly marked on his poetry. The question arises what is Romanticism?

The answer is that it is a phenomenon characterized by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature.

William Blake included The Little Black Boy in his collection The Songs of Innocence published in The poem has been considered “One of the most uncomfortable of Blake lyrics” which “deals with issues of racism and slavery.