Black Beauty is told using a first-person point of view from the perspective of the titular horse. It is an autobiographical memoir, meaning that Black Beauty is telling his story as he looks back on his life. The reader can see this autobiographical element from the first lines of the story:
The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end.
In these lines, we see that the character is remembering a time in the past when he was still a colt. The first-person narration is evidenced by the use of the pronoun "I" outside of dialogue. Black Beauty, the narrator, is directly involved in the story, recalling his life:
While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not...
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eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the grove.
The story continues on in this first-person point of view for the rest of the book as Black Beauty recounts various episodes from his past.