My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but oh my soul is white!
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black, as if bereaved 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, pointed to the east, began to say:
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives His light, and gives His heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"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 sunburnt 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 and 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 from 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.
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From guest dusty springfield (contact)
Doesn't the black boy however, appear naive to the actual realities of his plight and suffering. The racism, slavery and oppression was horrific at the time and for a black person to so easily overlook this is perhaps a little unrealistic. Is he too passive to the suffering. This may be a hidden question that Blake wants to pose to the reader of innocence, to be revealed later? -
I was surprised when I read this poem. The issue of color being address by Blake--done with much care. Some of you might be surprised to learn that Blake was very much against slavery, and that he drew pictures about it. I'm thinking about one in particular, in which a Black man is hung, by the lungs. Blake depicts the pain by having the man's body leaning sharply to the right side. The colors are deep, and the man is the main focus in the picture.
What some find a little "troublesome" with this poem is the thinking of the experiences of the Black Boy. He must endure so much because of his color, and because of this pain, he somehow has to extend this in the next world (lines 25-26).
His mother is teaching her son to just bear what comes his way, and understand that in the next world, he will receive his reward. Survival skills with a mix of christian thinking--repect your authorities.
For the time period, the mother did the best she could for her son. She was teaching him to survive, and to remember that no matter what, always remember that God will be there at the end. You will have a time of rejoicing. -
i think blake wrote this poem in the time of slavery. this poem is very interesting, as blake himself stands out from the typical view of non- white people in his period.
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A very positive poem... of course during these times when he lived prejudice was at it's height...with slavery..it was just terrible... both William showed despite this time,maybe in this poem he's trying to look beyond that and tried to show the people during his time,that maybe we should join hands,accept everybody.
Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy
I think this stanza backs my interpretation... A wonderful poem.
~CWM~
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