William Blake's Infant Sorrow and Infant Joy: A Close Reading

Introduction to Blake's Infant Poems

"Infant Sorrow" is one of the poems by William Blake. It portrays a child being born into an unfamiliar world, capturing that experience with simplicity, hope, and anxiety. Blake describes how the child leaps into the world helpless and naked, yet the welcoming world is characterized by precarious situations and dangers. Since the newborn is still naive, they do not know how to properly respond to this world. Feelings of helplessness befall the baby, and the only consolation available is the opportunity to rest on the mother's breast.

Poetic Devices in Infant Sorrow

Blake employs various poetic devices to convey the poem's meaning. With only two stanzas and eight lines, the poem uses very simple language. One of the primary devices is imagery. Blake uses vivid imagery as he writes, "into the dangerous world I leapt: helpless, naked, piping aloud…" This allows readers to clearly visualize what takes place as the baby is born, prompting them to consider feelings such as fear and anxiety that they may not have previously associated with a child's entry into the world. Lines five and six also employ imagery, as Blake describes the baby struggling in the hands of the father and striving against swaddling bands.

Blake also uses sound in the poem as he writes how the baby's mother groaned and the father wept. This causes the reader to imagine the sounds the parents made. The groans may result from the pains of delivery, while the father's weeping could reflect his awareness that the baby is entering a world that is perilous and unkind. These sounds capture the tribulations the baby is likely to face upon leaving the safety of the womb and beginning to interact with the real world.