Infant Sorrow

Infant Sorrow is a poem by William Blake from Songs of Experience.

Infant Sorrow

My mother groan'd! my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt.
Helpless, naked, piping loud;
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my father's hands,
Striving against my swaddling bands;
Bound and weary I thought best
To sulk upon my mother's breast.

The poem starts with the ambiguous first lines of 'My mother groan'd! My father wept'. These lines could represent the discomfort of the mother and the father of the birth of their baby, or it could symbolise the pain and joy of childhood. 'My father wept' could represent the father crying tears of joy at the birth of his baby.

'Into the dangerous world I leapt' the infant, unlike that of Infant Joy, has an acute awareness and understanding of the world. This is symbolic of the Innocence/Experience divide. This infant sounds much more experienced in the world than the infant of 'Joy'.

Another interpretation of the opening lines could be a negative one, and suggest that the baby is unwanted.