What is the theme of Infant Joy?
In ‘Infant Joy,’ Blake taps into themes of innocence and happiness above all else. The speaker is both of these things embodied. They are new to the world and completely without the sorrow that they’ll meet later in life. The child chooses their own name, “Joy,” to solidify how they want to live their life.
What is the meaning of Infant Joy?
The poem “Infant Joy” is a celebration of a new life. In the first stanza, the newborn baby, two days old, asserts that he or she is happy. In the second stanza, perhaps meant to reflect the joy of the parent who welcomes the newborn, the speaker uses words like pretty, joy, and sweet to describe the child.
Who is the speaker in Infant Joy?
The speakers of ‘Infant Joy’ are mother and her baby. But there are critics who hold that the poem is an imaginary conversation between a fairy and an infant. According to yet another viewpoint of J.H. Wicksteed the child is unborn and so has no name.
What is the imagery of Infant Joy?
Imagery and symbolism New-born children could be images of innocence, as here and in Cradle Song. The Romantics believed that children came fresh from God and retained their memory of him. Children therefore reflect the creativity and goodness of God.
How many speakers does baby joy have?
The two stanzas and their contrasting speakers, use repetition with variation link many of the other ‘Songs of Innocence’ poems, demonstrating what critic Heather Glen called the “difference yet harmony between the two speakers.”
What shall I call thee I happy am Joy is my name?
“I happy am, Joy is my name.” Sweet joy befall thee! Pretty joy! Sweet joy, but two days old. Sweet Joy I call thee: Thou dost smile, I sing the while; Sweet joy befall thee!
Have No Name I am but two days old what shall I call thee?
“I have no name: I am but two days old.” What shall I call thee? “I happy am, Joy is my name.” Sweet joy befall thee! Pretty joy!
What does a baby symbolize in literature?
The child has always, of course, found a place in the literary imagination, both as a character in her or his own right and as a representation of all those things a culture associates with childhood: innocence, savagery, emptiness, vulnerability, freedom, and potentiality.
What does like a fiend hid in a cloud mean?
The closing line of the first stanza, “Like a fiend hid in a cloud,” represents the energy and potential of a newborn baby lost amidst the “cloud” of the circumstances he is born into. For Blake, a “fiend” was not an evil thing, but rather an embodiment of spirit and energy.
Can I see another’s woe and not be in sorrow too Can I see another’s grief and not seek for kind relief?
O He gives to us His joy, That our grief He may destroy: Till our grief is fled and gone He doth sit by us and moan. Can I see another’s woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, And not seek for kind relief? Can I see a falling tear, And not feel my sorrow’s share?
What does a child symbolize in poetry?
The child represents innocence, purity, wonder, receptivity, freshness, noncalculation, the absence of narrow ambition and purpose. As yet innocent of life, the child portrays the beginning, the origin of all. It symbolizes a primordial unity, before differentiation has taken place.
What do children usually represent in literature?