William Blake’s “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow, Essay Example
William Blake’s “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow, Essay Example

William Blake’s “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow, Essay Example

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  • Pages: 6 (1410 words)
  • Published: September 22, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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I chose William Blake’s “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow. ” because they represent two different positions of artlessness. I peculiarly liked “Infant Joy. ” due to its dark symbolism. imagination. and nonliteral word picture of artlessness. It is rather flooring that an baby would depict a new universe as “dangerous” ( Blake 2 ) . where the infant’s parents would either cry or moan. as if in panic. Parents should be happy when they see their babe. but this poem paints a different image.

An infant described as a “fiend” is besides barely anticipated ; this image is rather confusing. because artlessness has been doused into the cloudy Waterss of immorality ( Blake 4 ) . At the same clip. the baby. who has merely been born. already feels “bound and weary” ( Blake 7 ) .

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The infant even “sulks” upon his mother’s chest ( Blake 8 ) . “Sulk” is a wordplay for “suck. ” which renders a different reading of depending on a female parent for nurturance ( Carson 150 ; Bender and Mellor 300 ) . On the other manus. “Infant Joy” focuses on the traditional apprehension of artlessness.

It depicts an baby. who is described with the footings “sweet joy” ( Blake 5 ) . There are besides two voices involved. that between the female parent and baby. The female parent is absolutely happy for her kid and wishes the latter “sweet joy” ( Blake 12 ) . These emotions seem more disposed for portraying an guiltless child’s birth ( Moore 209 ) . Therefore. together. these two verse forms present different facets of artlessness. which will be helpful in understanding th

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complexness of human nature. 2: List your thesis statement. This should be one sentence and it should concentrate on the literature.

“Infant Sorrow” and “Infant Joy” have the same subject of subjugation. but described in different schemes. because the former is more realistic in straight sabotaging the felicity of being born into a society. wherein single freedoms and rights are frequently trampled. get downing with the household unit. while the latter provides a cautious understanding with an infant’s idealistic apprehension of the universe. 3. Read pages 96-99 in your text edition and so list: a. An thought from the literature that you can compare.

Make a subject sentence that can be supported by a full paragraph of analysis and or illustrations or quotation marks from the text edition or your research. “Infant Joy” is similar to “Infant Sorrow. ” because they both describe the strong emotions that surround birth. “Infant Joy” portrays the felicity of an baby in being born: “I happy am. /Joy is my name” ( Blake 4-5 ) . The infant feels smartly happy plenty to even call herself as “Joy. ” The mother’s voice is besides present in this verse form. and she besides feels exuberant that she sings for her babe: “I sing thee while” ( Blake 11 ) .

She calls her babe “pretty. ” a fitting description for a joyful babe. “Infant Sorrow” is besides full of strong emotions. The baby decidedly feels the deficiency of safety in its universe. as it leaps to the “dangerous world” ( Blake 2 ) . It feels strongly oppressed besides. as it “struggles” in his father’s custodies ( Blake 5 ) . Parents in

this verse form besides express echoing emotions. as the female parent “groaned” and the male parent “wept” ( Blake 1 ) . Therefore. both poems explore the avalanche of strong emotions that come with childbearing. B. Another thought from the literature that you can compare.

Make a subject sentence that can be supported by a full paragraph of analysis and or illustrations or quotation marks from the text edition or your research. “Infant Joy” is the same as “Infant Sorrow. ” because they both employ small to no nonliteral linguistic communication. For “Infant Sorrow. ” the most dramatic nonliteral linguistic communication is the simile. “Like a monster hid in the cloud” ( Blake 4 ) . Another is the wordplay of “sulk. ” alternatively of “suck” ( Blake 8 ) . For “Infant Joy. ” there are no apparent figures of address. This makes the poem really straightforward to some extent. c. An thought from the literature that you can contrast.

Make a subject sentence that can be supported by a full paragraph of analysis and or illustrations or quotation marks from the text edition or your research. “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” usage different constructions. In “Infant Sorrow. ” Blake uses a regular AABB rime strategy for both stanzas. but in “Infant Joy. ” he uses ABCDAC for the first stanza and ABCDDC for the 2nd. Furthermore. the most distinguishable form in “Infant Joy” is the dual rime that recurs in lines three. six. nine. and twelve. This riming pattern contrasts with the more stable rime of “Infant Sorrow.

” This signifies an uncertainness in the voice of the female parent in “Infant Joy. ” as she

wishes her child a happy life. The female parent could be stamp downing the world that felicity is seldom come-at-able. Hence. “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” possess different constructions that besides impact their significances. d. Another thought you can contrast. Make a subject sentence that can be supported by a full paragraph of analysis and or illustrations or quotation marks from the text edition or your research. “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” represent two different facets of human life. because of the different talkers or voices involved.

“Infant Sorrow” illustrates a more realistic version of the universe. wherein the baby should fear it because it is a “dangerous world” ( Blake 2 ) . The talker is an grownup who is disillusioned of life. because in this universe. people will merely experience “helpless” and “naked. ” and that though they may be “piping loud. ” no 1 will hear their calls for aid and freedom ( Blake 3 ) . The talker besides describes human existences as “fiend [ s ] hidden in a cloud” ( Blake 4 ) . because people would ever experience laden and sense the demand to huddle in fright. as if they were felons. They are hidden in a cloud ; nevertheless. the cloud can non protect them.

It can even convey them a storm of devastation. The society is besides filled with subjugation. get downing with the household. because kids frequently struggle against their male parents and their swayers: “Struggling in my father’s hands” ( Blake 5 ) . Peoples would merely wish to last and be free. but they would stay “striving” against society’s “swaddling bands” ( Blake 6 )

. In the terminal. there is hopelessness. because people can non perchance last without depending on a province to protect them. no affair how oppressive it might be. so they “sulk” as they suck on what small nurturance society can offer.

On the other manus. “Infant Joy” represents the lighter position of life. The voices come from an baby and female parent who understand that life is joyful. “Infant Joy” portrays the felicity of an baby in being born: “I happy am. /Joy is my name” ( Blake 4-5 ) . The female parent feels ebullient plenty to sing for her babe: “I sing thee while” ( Blake 11 ) . She besides calls her babe “pretty. ” which describes the beauty of the universe. Thus. “Infant Joy” presents a more positive position of the universe. while “Infant Sorrow” underscores the unhappiness of human being. 5. Post your introductory paragraph below.

Make sure you catch the reader’s attending. list the rubrics of the literature and the authors’ names. Your debut should stop with your thesis statement. Human being can be summed up in an infant’s realisation that the universe is a unsafe and unhappy topographic point to populate in. That is the chief message of “Infant Sorrow” by William Blake. “Infant Sorrow” strongly contrasts with Blake’s other verse form. “Infant Joy. ” “Infant Joy” celebrates childbearing. as the baby christens herself as “Joy. ” Her female parent celebrates with her by singing a vocal and naming her “pretty joy” ( Blake 7 ) and “sweet joy” ( Blake 8 ) .

However. there is more to “Infant Joy” than its too-evident joyousness. There is a mask of hyperbole

in the felicity that can be unfurled to uncover a deeper apprehension of human being. “Infant Sorrow” and “Infant Joy” have the same subject of subjugation. but described in different schemes. because the former is more realistic in straight sabotaging the felicity of being born into a society. wherein single freedoms and rights are frequently trampled. get downing with the household unit. while the latter provides a cautious understanding with an infant’s idealistic apprehension of the universe.

Plants cited Bender. John and Anne Mellor. “Liberating the Sister Arts: The Revolution of Blake’s ‘Infant Sorrow. ’” ELH 50. 2 ( 1983 ) . pp. 297-319 Carson. Ricks. “Blake’s ‘Infant Sorrow’ . ” Explicator 52. 3 ( 1994 ) : 150-51. Blake. William. Infant Joy. 893. Blake. William. Infant Sorrow. 894. Moore. Donald K. “Blake’s Notebook Versions of ‘Infant Sorrow. ’” Bulletin of the New York Public Library 76 ( 1972 ) : 209 – 219.

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