19 pages • 38 minutes read
William BlakeThe Little Boy Found
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1789A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
God Is Always There
When the “little boy” is “lost” in the “lonely fen” (Line 1), God is the saving force who rescues the child. The speaker makes a point of saying God is “ever nigh” (Line 3). God is ubiquitous, meaning He is in all places at all times. Because of God’s omnipresent nature, He is able to find the boy who strayed from his home. The boy, “led by the wandering light” (Line 2), initially seems to be without any aid in the marsh. The inclusion of the conjunction “but” shows that this is not always the case and there is an alternative: This alternative is God. Even wandering in the middle of nowhere, God finds the little boy and brings him to his mother. God is able to find his children anywhere and at any time—no matter their need. God takes on the appearance of a comforting parental figure in order to approach the child, appearing “like [a] father” (Line 4). Appearing to the boy as a parent helps build the boy’s trust and makes him feel at ease. God realizes a possibly malevolent force is leading the child astray, and He intercedes. He “kissed the child” (Line 5) and leads him by the hand, offering him the assurance so badly needed in the moment. Blake’s poem shows that no matter where, when, or why, God will always be there for his children.
Not All Things That Appear Good Are Good
Readers are not given any particular reason that the boy is wandering alone in the wetlands, lost and unsure, other than that he is “Led by the wandering light” (Line 2). At first, the “wandering light” may read as a benevolent force. After all, “light” (as the antithesis of “dark”) is often interpreted as positive and “good.” However, contextual clues indicate this “light” may not be as benevolent as it appears. To start, the light is described as “wandering” (Line 2). “Wandering” implies rambling, or straying—especially from a set path. Anything deemed good, right, and true would not be aimlessly or idly wandering from the path before it.
The second contextual clue is the fact that God sees the need to come rescue the boy from the “wandering light” (Line 2). The light, leading the boy astray, makes him cry. Again, a benevolent force wouldn’t cause such suffering. It is the “ever nigh” (Line 3) God who appears and takes the boy home. If the “wandering light” (Line 2) was from God and representative of his goodness in any way, then God wouldn’t need to intercede and the boy. This goes to show that not everything that initially appears good has a truly good nature. Evil or malicious entities can take on the appearance of goodness and justice to try and lead people astray. Blake promotes reliance on God to try and consistently stay on His path.
A Parent’s Love Knows No Bounds
Since God initially saves the child from the “wandering light” (Line 2), it is significant that God is referred to as the boy’s “father” (Line 4). God may not be the child’s physical and biological parent, but he can be designated as the child’s spiritual parent. Although the boy’s mother isn’t the one who finds and rescues the child, she goes out to search for him once she discovers he is missing. Once she realizes her boy is gone, even though she is “in sorrow pale,” she travels “through the lonely dale” (Line 7) seeking her child. Since she is alone in an uninhabited and “lonely” (Line 7) place, she is putting herself in danger by g searching for her son. She could be putting herself in a precarious predicament by entering the “dale” (Line 7) on her own. However, there doesn’t seem to be any hesitation on her part to do this. Her sole focus is on her child. Both forces that the speaker presents as striving to return the lost boy home are parental figures—whether literally or figuratively. Either way, the poem shows the love, power, and devotion of parents who would do anything for their children.
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By William Blake
