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 Little Black Boy' wished that he could be—
Correct Answer :
white
Solution :
The correct answer is white.
Explanation:
In the given extract from William Blake's poem "The Little Black Boy", the speaker reflects on his identity and color. In the first stanza, he says:
"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."
The poem contrasts the speaker's black outer body with his inner white soul, comparing his soul to that of an English child ("White as an angel is the English child"). This contrast illustrates his wish and perception regarding purity, acceptance, and light, leading to the understanding that he wished he could be white (like the English child) to be perceived as pure and loved equally.
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