The Little Boy Found - Imagery, symbolism and themes

Imagery and symbolism

The poem revolves around associations aroused by the father – child relationship and associated ideas about the fatherhood of God. For Blake, the child had specific associations with Christ and he expected his contemporaries to recognise these. See The Little Boy Lost > Imagery and symbolism. Here we see that the reality of the failure of human fatherhood is evaded by an over-easy assertion of the protective fatherhood of God.

Lonely fen / dale – In opposition to the pastoral ideal, Blake presents the rural landscape as one of comfortless isolation and consequent distress.

wandring light - In The Little Boy Lost, this represented an unreliable guide for the little boy (the will-o'-the-wisp was created by the sporadic combustion of marsh gases). There are also the literary allusions to the mischievous ‘guidance' of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Ariel in The Tempest.

However, the light's more constant presence and association with God's guidance in this poem may allude to the pillar of fire by which God led the children of Israel away from the danger of Egypt and through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21).

Investigating imagery and symbolism

Do you find the image of God, the father, persuasive in The Little Boy Found?
- If so, why?
- If not, what makes you find it questionable?

Themes

The vulnerability of innocence

Innocence is especially endangered when it is ignorant of the ‘woe' in life and of the possibility of failure and betrayal.

Parenting

The insufficiency of human parenting, which leaves an infant isolated and lost, is exposed. By contrast, the parenting of God can be seen as providing true guidance and drawing alongside the child's experience in a loving, secure relationship.

God in man's image

Blake disagreed with the creation of the image of an external God-figure, as simply being a projection of human needs and attitudes. In The Little Boy Found, this is seen as escapist, a desire to evade awareness of vulnerability and potential loss.

Investigating themes

What new insights have you gained from this poem about Blake's understanding of innocence?

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine. ³Then Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. ⁵And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. ⁶Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ⁸You shall tell your son on that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. ⁹And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year. ¹¹When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ¹²you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ¹³Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ¹⁴And when in time to come your son asks you, What does this mean? you shall say to him, By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹⁵For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. ¹⁶It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt. ¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. ¹⁸But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. ¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here. ²⁰And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²²The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

¹And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ²Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. ³And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. ⁴This day came ye out in the month Abib. ⁵And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. ⁶Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. ⁸And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. ⁹And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. ¹⁰Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. ¹¹And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, ¹²That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD's. ¹³And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. ¹⁴And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. ¹⁶And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: ¹⁸But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. ²⁰And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: ²²He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

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