Infant Sorrow

Infant Sorrow

Synopsis

• A baby speaks of its entry into the world, which brought pain to its parents.

• It struggled against restriction, until it finally gave in

• For Blake, fiend was not to be regarded as evil, but as an embodiment of energy and instinct

Language and Tone

'My father groaned, my mother wept' --> 'Groaned' and 'wept' → emotive, despairing... establishes a sorrowful tone. Ambiguity: are the parents upset by the birth itself, or by the dangerous nature of the world the baby has been brought into?

'Into the dangerous world I leapt' → active rather than expected passivity; energised; not phased by 'dangerous world'

'Helpless, naked, piping loud' → juxtaposition... Vulnerability, contrasted against strong image. Cacophonous.…