Poem Analysis of The Little Black Boy by William Blake for close reading

This is an analysis of the poem The Little Black Boy that begins with:

My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but oh my soul is white!... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

Rhyme scheme: abab cccc dcdX eded fefX ccccXfcfc
Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,9,
Closest metre: iambic pentameter
Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
Сlosest stanza type: tercets
Guessed form: blank verse
Metre: 1101100101 1111111101 1111000101 1111100101 1101110101 1101010101 111101111 1100010101 1101011111 1101110101 11011111101 1001010010 1111110101 1111010101 1111010101 0101110101 1111110101 0101011101 10110011111 11110111100 101101111 1111010101 1101110111 1101011111 1110011111 0101011101 1111110101 1011110111
Amount of stanzas: 7
Average number of symbols per stanza: 179
Average number of words per stanza: 35
Amount of lines: 28
Average number of symbols per line: 44 (strings are more long than medium ones)
Average number of words per line: 9
Mood of the speaker:
The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.
The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; me, and are repeated.
The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word and is repeated.
The author used the same word my at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.
The literary device anadiplosis is detected in two or more neighboring lines. The word/phrase white connects the lines.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

summary of The Little Black Boy;
central theme;
idea of the verse;
history of its creation;
critical appreciation.

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Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.

The Little Black Boy by William Blake: poem analysis

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

More information about poems by William Blake