Figurative Language in The Little Black Boy (1789) by William Blake

The Little Black Boy

BY William Blake

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 sunburn face

Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

 

“For when our souls have learned the heat to bear,

They 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 learn 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.

According to Perrine (2008:61) states that figurative language can be defined as any way to convey something in an unusual way. It means when someone says something, sometimes they do not really mean it. There is an implicit meaning from what they are talking about.

 

1. Simile: is a comparison of two things, with assistance of the word 'like' or 'as' it creates a similarity.

·         White as an angel is the English child

·         Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove

·         And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice

·         And round the tent of God like lambs we joy

 

2. Metaphor: Metaphor is a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they're similar.

·         And, pointed to the east, began to say

 

3. Metonymy: Metonymy is a figure of speech that describe one item by referring to another object that is closely related to it.

·         That we may learn to bear the beams of love

 

4. Hyperbole: Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to create a special effect.

·         I‟ll shade him from the heat till he can bear

·         And I am black, but oh my soul is white

 

5. Anaphora: Anaphora is a repetition of a word or phrase at the begininning of clause.

·         And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive.

·         And be like him, and he will then love me.