A Little Boy Lost (E) - Language, tone and structure

Language and tone

The opening stanza is reminiscent of The Clod and the Pebble in terms of its rhythm and axiomatic statements. However, it is the pebble's view point which seems to predominate in A Little Boy Lost.

A disconcerting opening

The poem begins with a statement, ‘Nought loves another as itself'. This alludes to – and contradicts – the central New Testament commandment: ‘love your neighbour as yourself' Mark 12:31. It begins, therefore, by unsettling and challenging the reader, the impression of negation being emphasised by the repeated N sounds in the first three lines.

The opening stanza with its lines beginning ‘Nought … Nor … Nor' is disconcerting in another way. It opens the poem with a series of definite statements which might appear, on account of their form, to issue from a preacher rather than from a child. Although the child opposes the way of thought of his elders, he has learned their way of speaking. We are not quite sure what to expect.

Freedom in religion?

Apart from his conduct, the priest reveals his subjection to ‘mind-forg'd manacles' by using the expression ‘Holy Mystery'. In Christianity faith is often referred to as the ‘mystery of faith' because it is something beyond human reason. For Blake, however, ‘mystery' was an invention of the human mind which imprisons and suppresses human energies and instincts (as in The Human Abstract).

A vulnerable child

The vulnerability of the child and the pathos of his situation is emphasised by the adjective ‘little':

He likens himself to a ‘little bird'
The priest leads him by his ‘little coat'
He is stripped of his ‘little shirt'.

This is further highlighted by the detail of the chain that binds him. It is ‘iron', underlining the contrast between his littleness and the chain's weight and strength.

The helplessness of the child is highlighted by the use of repetition in the final two stanzas. Both child and parent are ‘weeping' and the uselessness of the parents response is underscored by its appearance in both stanzas. The plosive B of ‘bound him', ‘burn'd him' and ‘burn'd before' conveys the vigour involved in the punishment. Abhorrence of the action is further evoked by the ironic adjective ‘holy' of the place where he is burnt. When this repetition and this irony are followed by the closing question ‘Are such things done on Albion's shore?' together they serve to undercut any notion in the reader's mind that Albion (Blake's personification of England) might be considered a holy place.

Investigating language and tone

Select examples of the way in which Blake uses diction to rouse his reader's indignation
Explain the impact of rhetorical devices such as irony, repetition and rhetorical questions.

Structure and versification

The quatrains are in closed couplets rhyming ABCB. The use of closed couplets means that we are led through the poem by a series of completed statements, the regularity of the [3iambic tetrameter suggesting that they are not to be questioned. The opening two stanzas are delivered as axiomatic.

The effect in the narrative section is one of inevitability. We build up by a series of completed actions to the conclusion. The exception to this is in the last stanza. The closing rhetorical question suddenly challenges the inevitability by appearing to question the possibility of this occurring at all.

Investigating structure and versification

Do you agree that the closed couplets enhance the sense of inevitability in the narrative section?
- If you don't, what effect do you think they produce?

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹And he began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. ²When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, They will respect my son. ⁷But those tenants said to one another, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. ⁸And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you not read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; ¹¹this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? ¹²And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away. ¹³And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. ¹⁴And they came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not? ¹⁵But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it. ¹⁶And they brought one. And he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. ¹⁸And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²²And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife. ²⁴Jesus said to them, Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? ²⁷He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong. ²⁸And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all? ²⁹Jesus answered, The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ³¹The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. ³²And the scribe said to him, You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. ³³And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. ³⁴And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. ³⁵And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet. ³⁷David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly. ³⁸And in his teaching he said, Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. ⁴¹And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. ⁴³And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.

¹And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. ²And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. ³And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. ⁴And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. ⁵And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. ⁶Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. ⁷But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's. ⁸And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. ⁹What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. ¹⁰And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: ¹¹This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? ¹²And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way. ¹³And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. ¹⁴And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. ¹⁶And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. ¹⁷And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. ¹⁸Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, ¹⁹Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. ²⁰Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. ²¹And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. ²²And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. ²³In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. ²⁴And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? ²⁵For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. ²⁶And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? ²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. ²⁸And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? ²⁹And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: ³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. ³¹And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. ³²And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: ³³And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. ³⁴And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. ³⁵And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? ³⁶For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. ³⁷David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. ³⁸And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, ³⁹And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: ⁴⁰Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. ⁴¹And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. ⁴²And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. ⁴³And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: ⁴⁴For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

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