A Mother to Her Waking Infant
Now in thy dazzling half-op'd eye,Thy curled nose, and lip awry,Thy up-hoist arms, and noddling 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 boast thy face,Thy shapeless limbs nor step, nor grace:A few short words thy feats may tell,And yet I love thee well.
When sudden wakes the bitter shriek,And redder swells thy little cheek;When rattled keys thy woe beguile,And thro' the wet eye gleams the smile,Still for thy weakly self is spentThy little silly plaint.
But when thy friends are in distress,Thou'lt laugh and chuckle ne'er the less;Nor e'en with sympathy be smitten,Tho' all are sad but thee and kitten;Yet little varlet that thou art,Thou twitchest at the heart.
Thy rosy cheek so soft and warm;Thy pinky hand, and dimpled arm;Thy silken locks that scantly peep,With gold-tip'd ends, where circle deepAround thy neck in harmless graceSo soft and sleekly hold their place,Might harder hearts with kindness fill,And gain our right good will.
Each passing clown bestows his blessing,Thy mouth is worn with old wives' kissing:E'en lighter looks the gloomy eyeOf 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 fewShort years to thee, thou'lt love me too.Then wilt thou thro' life's weary wayBecome my sure and cheering stay:Wilt care, for me, and be my hold,When I am weak and old.
Thou'lt listen to my lengthen'd tale,And pity me when I am frail--But see, the sweepy spinning flyUpon the window takes thine eye.Go to thy little senseless play--Thou doest not heed my lay.
Words in this poem
- toothless a.
- Having no teeth.
- plaint n.
- Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p.p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.]
- chuckle v. t.
- To call, as a hen her chickens; to cluck. [From lst Chuck.]
- varlet n.
- A servant, especially to a knight; an attendant; a valet; a footman. Spenser. Tusser. [OF. varlet, vaslet, vallet, servant, young man, young noble, dim of vassal. See Vassal, and cf. Valet.]
- scantly adv.
- In a scant manner; not fully or sufficiently; narrowly; penuriously.
- sleekly adv.
- In a sleek manner; smoothly.
- surly a.
- Arrogant; haughty. Cotgrave. [Probably from sir, and originally meaning, sirlike, i.e., proud. See Sir, and Like, a.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sweepy a.
- Moving with a sweeping motion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Mother to Her Waking Infant is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, &c. (1790) Wherein It Is Attempted To Describe Certain Views Of Nature And Of Rustic Manners; And Also, To Point Out, In Some Instances, The Different Influence Which The Same Circumstances Produce On Different Characters, Project Gutenberg ebook #14617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joanna Baillie, A Mother to Her Waking Infant, in Poems (1790) (1790), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baillie-poems/a-mother-to-her-waking-infant.html, id L09871.
Form and metre
A Mother to Her Waking Infant is 50 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCC eyeA · awryA · headB · spreadB · seeC · theeC
- 2 AABBCC comeA · gumA · faceB · graceB · tellC · wellC
- 3 AABBCC shriekA · cheekA · beguileB · smileB · spentC · plaintC
- 4 AABBCC distressA · lessA · smittenB · kittenB · artC · heartC
- 5 --AABBCC warm · arm · peepA · deepA · graceB · placeB · fillC · willC
- 6 --AABB blessing · kissing · eyeA · byA · beB · meB
- 7 AABBCC fewA · tooA · wayB · stayB · holdC · oldC
- 8 AABBCC taleA · frailA · flyB · eyeB · playC · layC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now in thy dazzling half-op'd eye, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Thy curled nose, and lip awry, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Thy up-hoist arms, and noddling head, | 8 | ········ |
| And little chin with crystal spread, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Poor helpless thing! what do I see, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That I should sing of thee? | 6 | ······ |
| From thy poor tongue no accents come, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which can but rub thy toothless gum: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Small understanding boast thy face, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Thy shapeless limbs nor step, nor grace: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A few short words thy feats may tell, | 8 | ········ |
| And yet I love thee well. | 6 | ······ |
| When sudden wakes the bitter shriek, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And redder swells thy little cheek; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When rattled keys thy woe beguile, | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘/ |
| And thro' the wet eye gleams the smile, | 8 | ········ |
| Still for thy weakly self is spent | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy little silly plaint. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| But when thy friends are in distress, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Thou'lt laugh and chuckle ne'er the less; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor e'en with sympathy be smitten, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| Tho' all are sad but thee and kitten; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Yet little varlet that thou art, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Thou twitchest at the heart. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thy rosy cheek so soft and warm; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thy pinky hand, and dimpled arm; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Thy silken locks that scantly peep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With gold-tip'd ends, where circle deep | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Around thy neck in harmless grace | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So soft and sleekly hold their place, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Might harder hearts with kindness fill, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And gain our right good will. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Each passing clown bestows his blessing, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Thy mouth is worn with old wives' kissing: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| E'en lighter looks the gloomy eye | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of surly sense, when thou art by; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And yet I think whoe'er they be, | 7 | ······· |
| They love thee not like me. | 6 | ······ |
| Perhaps when time shall add a few | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Short years to thee, thou'lt love me too. | 8 | ········ |
| Then wilt thou thro' life's weary way | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Become my sure and cheering stay: | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Wilt care, for me, and be my hold, | 8 | ········ |
| When I am weak and old. | 6 | ······ |
| Thou'lt listen to my lengthen'd tale, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And pity me when I am frail-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But see, the sweepy spinning fly | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Upon the window takes thine eye. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Go to thy little senseless play-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thou doest not heed my lay. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.