William Blake's "The Little Black Boy"
             William Blake writes "The Little Black Boy" from Songs of Innocence- a time when we are young and have not experienced much of life. In "The Little Black Boy," I believe Blake is writing about racism and the treatment of blacks. Blake tells a story of a black child who learns of his identity through understanding God and believes that there is hope of equality in the end.
             The little black boy is the speaker of Blake's poem. We can see this because Blake writes his poem in first person. The voice of the little child represents innocence. The tone throughout the poem shows that even though the little black boy is not respected as the white boy is, he shows no signs of hostility and anger toward the white race.
             Throughout the poem there are many references of black and white. "And I am black, but O! my soul is white." Even though the child's skin color is black, he has the soul of a white English child. He may have been brought up learning that only white is beautiful. And if color is only what's on the outside then his soul is the same as the white English child. He is beautiful too. Blake continues the poem by writing "White as an angel is the English child: But I am black as if bereav'd of light." Here I believe Blake is showing a symbol of racism. He is referring to the white child as an angel, someone of purity and holiness. Whereas he is saying the black boy is bereav'd of light; he is dark, representing someone sinful and shameful. Towards the end of the poem Blake writes "When I from black and he from white cloud free," meaning that his black skin color almost acts as a cloud in life, covering him and setting him apart from the white boy. When he reaches God his skin color will not matter. The white boys' skin color will not matter. The boys of the two different races wi...