"A Mother to Her Waking Infant" by Joanna Baillie
Introduction
Joanna Baillie (1762-1851)
Joanna Baillie was a famous Scottish playwright and poet in her own time, but her work has gradually diminished in popularity. During her lifetime, she was hailed by many as a female Shakespeare. From a young age, she was interested in drama, and she later became especially well-known for her plays, particularly her project Plays on the Passions. This interest in drama helped her develop a strong narrative voice in her poems.She became connected with literary society through her aunt and was a friend of Sir Walter Scott. She never married but lived with her family and was close to her nieces and nephews, which may contribute to the motherly perspective she adopts in "A Mother to Her Waking Infant." Her first published work was a collection of poems published in 1790 entitled Poems: Wherein It Is Attempted to Describe Certain Views of Nature and of Rustic Manners. This collection included the poem “A Mother to Her Waking Infant.”
The Poem
This poem is told from the first-person perspective of a mother, which is interesting since Baillie herself never had any children. It deals with the delight a mother has in her child, yet it is not entirely a happy poem, either. The child seems almost heartless, as if he or she did not care about other people; this idea is particularly prominent in stanza four. The child is innocent and does not know about the hard things of this world, which is similar to many Romantic poets’ perspectives on childhood. Yet Baillie seems to suggest that this lack of knowledge may not be entirely a good thing. People must know something of the struggle of the world in order to care for others, yet innocence and naivete are beautiful, too. Baillie’s struggle with this dynamic adds a powerful voice to Romantic discussions of childhood--a common theme of the era. It is also helpful to have a woman’s perspective on motherhood in a time when most views of motherhood were written by men, and it is unique because this woman is not a mother herself. Baillie provides an unusual voice on the topic of childhood in this poem."A Mother to Her Waking Infant" (1790)
Now in thy dazzling half-oped[1] eye,Thy curled nose and lip awry,
Uphoisted[2] arms and noddling[3] head,
And little chin with crystal spread,
Poor helpless thing! what do I see,
That I should sing of thee?
From thy poor tongue no accents come,
Which can but rub thy toothless gum:
Small understanding boasts thy face,
Thy shapeless limbs nor step nor grace:
A few short words thy feats may tell,
And yet I love thee well.
When wakes the sudden bitter shriek,
And redder swells thy little cheek
When rattled keys[4] thy woes beguile,
And through thine eyelids gleams the smile,
Still for thy weakly self is spent
Thy little silly plaint.
But when thy friends are in distress.
Thou’lt laugh and chuckle n’ertheless,
Nor with kind sympathy be smitten,
Though all are sad but thee and kitten;
Yet puny varlet[5] that thou art,
Thou twitchest at the heart.
Thy smooth round cheek so soft and warm;
Thy pinky hand and dimpled arm;
Thy silken locks that scantly peep,
With gold tipped ends, where circle deep,
Around thy neck in harmless grace,
So soft and sleekly hold their place,
Might harder hearts with kindness fill,
And gain our right goodwill.
Each passing clown bestows his blessing,
Thy mouth is worn with old wives’ kissing;
E’en lighter looks the gloomy eye
Of surly sense when thou art by;
And yet, I think, whoe’er they be,
They love thee not like me.
Perhaps when time shall add a few
Short years to thee, thou’lt love me too;
And after that, through life’s long way,
Become my sure and cheering stay;
Wilt care for me and be my hold,
When I am weak and old.
Thou’lt listen to my lengthened tale,
And pity me when I am frail —
But see, the sweepy spinning fly
Upon the window takes thine eye.
Go to thy little senseless play;
Thou dost not heed my lay.
Bibliography
Carhart, Margaret S. The Life and Work of Joanna Baillie. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1970.Clarke, Norma. "Baillie, Joanna." Oxford: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1062.
Baillie, Joanna. Plays on the Passions. Edited by Peter Duthie. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2001.
Baillie, Joanna, Poems: Wherein It Is Attempted to Describe Certain Views of Nature and of Rustic Manners. 1790.