William Blake - Compare Infant Joy and Infant Sorrow

William Blake’s “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” are poems about life. They show the growth in relationship between a child and his/her parents from different perspectives.
Even by the names of each poem, we can anticipate that they will have subject matter, regarding a child, but stark contrasts in style and structure. To begin with, I can say that “Infant Joy” has a very simple structure and style, emphasizing on the theme of happiness and freedom, while “Infant Sorrow” has a more complex and dissonant style, using language, which reflects the opposite theme of struggle and discomfort. However, I feel that the main theme of both the poems is individualism.
It is interesting how both of Blake’s poems are talking about the same event – the infancy phase of journey called life, but both the poems describe it in their own personal style. This is what I mean by individualism. I think that it is the unique and intriguing way these poems depict the same event but present contrasting ideas. I like these poems, as the delivery of their message is so powerful that, it makes you think and wonder which is correct.
I feel like the theme of freedom is presented in Infant Joy in the beginning lines of the poem, when the child picks his own name – Joy. However in infant sorrow, the child is describes as being “helpless” and “striving against my swaddling bands”. The very image this description creates makes us see the child “bound and weary” which enhances the sinster mood in the poem.
The harsh language in “Infant sorrow” is incongruent with that in “Infant Joy”. The monosyllabic words and frequent use of repetition create a very childlike and innocent atmosphere, “Pretty joy! or Sweet Joy but two days old.” However, in “Infant Sorrow”, Blake has made use of rhyming couplets much more often, but in this case they do not help to ease the tension created in the poem. This is a good example of individualism. It is clearly seen how the structure of these individual poems help build towards the theme of each poem – which is the same, with different point of view.
A major difference in the two poems, which affects the poet’s style reflected in the two poems, is the narration. “Infant Joy” contains dialogue that seems like the mother is imagining the child talking, and imagining what the child would say. The simple words suggest how the mother feels about her child – simple and sweet. “Infant Sorrow” on the other hand is presented from the child’s point of view. The words are more complex and polysyllabic, implying the child’s feelings of insecurity in the “dangerous world” outside. Thoughts like “My mother groan’d, my father wept” showed the mixed emotions the child was having as to being born in this world.
There is little action seen in “Infant Joy”. However, “Infant Sorrow” has actions and also generates a feeling of struggle through its use of harsh adjectives such as “struggling” and “leapt”. Blake creates this seen when he shows the child wailing and striving against the mother reaching for it. However, in “Infant Joy”, the child is calm and placid resting in its mothers arms. Also, “Infant Joy” is portrayed in bright, vibrant colors with a simple outline of flowers in the background.
Even though majorly contrasting in views, the two poems do have a connection. The image of a smiling face of the mother and characteristics of the baby in “Infant Joy” bears resemblance to that in “Infant Sorrow”.
In conclusion, “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” have been constructed in a way to depict individualism, i.e. they both show or represent two contrasting thoughts through different people (mother and the child). The first, as the name implies, is about innocence and joys of childhood. The latter, however, deals with negativism, pain and suffering and the “dangers of the world”.