In William Blake’s “Songs of Experience,” the poem “Infant
Sorrow” stood out to me as one of the most interesting, especially when
compared to its counterpart “Infant Joy” in “songs of Innocence.” This poem,
unlike “Infant Joy” is written entirely from the point of view of the baby. It
seems to be discussing the moment of his birth, which is usually described as a
joyous or happy moment of new life entering the world. In this case, however,
the baby is very unhappy and “struggling in my father’s hands.” This is in
great contrast with the baby in “Infant Joy” who is unnamed and unaware of
anything except its mother’s face and pure joy. In “infant Sorrow,” the baby
not naive at all, but instead is instantly aware that he is no longer in the
safe place of his mother’s womb, but in “the dangerous world.” It was very
interesting to compare the different illustrations of the illuminated plates
Blake created for this poem. Although the images are of the same woman bending
over a struggling baby in his crib, they have very different color schemes. The
one that seems to fit best with the dark mood of the poem is Copy A from the
British Museum, where the mother is wearing bright yellow, but everything else
is very dark blue or black.
I agree that it is an interesting contrast. It almost seems like the baby is already fallen before exiting the womb, and I think this can be seen in line 1 where it says "my father wept" which can mean "heavenly father"
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting about the "Infant Sorrow" plates is the one in which the mother's dress is bright red and the floor of the nursery, with its red and yellow coloring, almost seems to be on fire. Also, there is no negative space in the entire plate, so that the walls seem to be closing in around the newborn baby. Perhaps Blake is depicting the world in which the infant was just born as a hellish reality that instantly overwhelms him. This might be a stretch, but the red of the mother's dress could be a reference to Satan, and due to his utter helplessness, the newborn has no choice but to succumb to it and "sulk upon my mother's breast."
ReplyDeleteI too found the connection between these poems interesting. In Infant Joy, the baby finds happiness at the bosom of his mother, while in Infant Sorrow, the father is a source of distress. From a religious perspective, it is interesting to consider this, wedded to the matriarchal religious tendencies of pre-Christian England and the patriarchal religious tendencies of post-Christian England.
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