Sunday, October 20, 2019

In William Blake’s "Infant Sorrow," what is the infant’s final reaction to his plight?

The infant narrator in "Infant Sorrow" seems to have come into the world under difficult circumstances. Besides his mother's understandably painful labor, he notes that his father weeps as he makes his entrance. And although infants are more commonly associated with angelic imagery, this one seems to identify more with being a "fiend."
Nevertheless, he finds himself born into this world and this family which seems none too excited for his arrival. He struggles against his father and against the confining swaddling bands which are typically calming to young infants.
Weary from the exhaustion of birth and from fighting in his father's arms, he finally looks to his mother for comfort; she has been his safe place for the previous nine months, and as he is otherwise helpless, she seems his best bet for rest at this moment.
This poem is typically paired with an opposing infant's experience in another of Blake's poems, "Infant Joy." Together, the two contrast varying parental experiences in bringing children into the world. Sometimes it is a cause for great celebration, and at other times, as in "Infant Sorrow," the moment is filled with pain and difficult circumstances. And regardless of which situation infants find themselves in, a mother's arms and breast provide the greatest source of comfort.

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