"Little Boy Lost" and "Little Boy Found"

The Little Boy Lost Songs of Innocence

“THE LITTLE BOY LOST”
"Father, father, where are you going?
   O do not walk so fast!
Speak, father, speak to your little boy,
   Or else I shall be lost.'
The night was dark, no father was there,
   The child was wet with dew;
The mire was deep, and the child did weep,
   And away the vapour flew."


The poem “The Little Boy Lost” by William Blake tells about a boy who has been led astray by his own father. It starts out saying “Father, father, where are we going?” the little boy is innocent and completely trusts his father, even though he doesn’t know where they are headed.  This is how most children act because they haven’t been corrupted by the world yet. They think everyone is a good and gentle human being.  Next in the poem it says

“O do not walk so fast!
Speak, father, speak to your little boy,
   Or else I shall be lost.”

The little boy begins calling out to his father in alarm to help him but the father’s attention is elsewhere. It appears as though he doesn’t care what happens to his little boy.  He has too much on his mind to take into account what might be happening to the young boy. It is also possible that the father in this story could be trying to give the boy life experience by abandoning him. The little boy would have to figure out his own way home, and learn important survival skills.  In the next line

“The night was dark, no father was there,
 The child was wet with dew;
The mire was deep, and the child did weep”

The child doesn’t realize his father abandoned him, but he started to weep because he thinks he got lost. He is forced to wonder through the wet dew trying to find the way back home. The innocent child doesn’t know what’s going on, he has never felt like this before; until now the child has always had the security of his father.

“THE LITTLE BOY FOUND”

“The little boy lost in the lonely fen,
   Led by the wandering light,
Began to cry, but God, ever nigh,
   Appeared like his father, in white.

He kissed the child, and by the hand led,
   And to his mother brought,
Who in sorrow pale, through the lonely dale,
   Her little boy weeping sought.”

The follow up poem to “The Little Boy Lost” tells about the boy receiving a little bit of hope. The “wandering light” is a symbol for the boy that everything will turn out alright. When the boy began to cry God stepped down to help the child find his way home. It is possible that the “wandering light” was some form of God or an Angel protecting the boy.  Blake demonstrates that the child is so innocent and inexperienced he can’t survive without someone to guide him.  In a way the child thinks of God as his real father so he is comforted by his presence. The child is returned home to his mother who is over joyed to have him home safely, and the father is not mentioned again.