Directions: Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options.
My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but O ! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child :
But I am black as if bereav’d 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 pointing 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 sun-burnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
The mother of 'the Little Black Boy' says his dark skin and face are—
Correct Answer :
a cloud
Solution :
The correct answer is a cloud.
Step-by-step Explanation:
1. Analyze the Stanza: In the fourth stanza of the poem, the mother explains the nature of their physical forms on earth:
"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 sun-burnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove."
2. Identify the Metaphor: The mother explicitly compares their "black bodies and this sun-burnt face" to "a cloud, and like a shady grove."
3. Conclusion: Thus, the mother describes his dark skin and face as a temporary earthly shell—specifically comparing it to a cloud.
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