Cradle Song

LEEP, sleep, beauty bright,

Dreaming in the joys of night;

Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep

Little sorrows sit and weep.

 

Sweet babe, in thy face

Soft desires I can trace,

Secret joys and secret smiles,

Little pretty infant wiles.

 

As thy softest limbs I feel,

Smiles as of the morning steal

O'er thy cheek, and o'er thy breast

Where thy little heart doth rest.

 

O the cunning wiles that creep

In thy little heart asleep!

When thy little heart doth wake,

Then the dreadful night shall break.

When reading William Blake's poem "Cradle Song" I discovered that throughout the poem he kind of describes an infants figure. I also noticed that besides describing an infant, the poem kind of has a nightmarish effect in it. How I came about there being an infant figure in the poem is because Blake seems to bring up children, and the fact that their little hearts and their heads rest against another persons chest. I also believe that the poem represents a nightmarish effect because Blake states "When thy little heart doth wake, Then the dreadful night shall break." to me that means once he/she is awake from dreaming the nightmare is over, but why would Blake incorporate these two things into a poem together?

I believe that Blake incorporated children and nightmares in the same poem because they have a connection. When children usually fall asleep I would say that 85% of them have nightmares, and the percent may be even higher if they watch horror movies. William Blake I think was trying to say that as children sleep they are precious and parents assume that in they're child's head they're dreaming of rainbows and sweets.  By William Blake writing this poem I think he was trying to make a statement and show that kids and nightmares have connections that adults and nightmares don't. In the poem it says "Smiles as of the morning steal" I think that means when a child awakes from sleep he/she is happy to see daylight and know that everything is okay, but once night comes again just like the poem says "Little sorrows sit and weep;" the children are horrified to close their eyes. William Blake wouldn't just talk about children and nightmares for no reason. I think that what Blake is trying to tell everyone is hidden deeper in the poem just more than one person needs to interpretate the poem and find it. One of the deeper meanings could be that Blake himself as a child had nightmares, maybe he knew people who would die from sleep walking and the dream becoming real. The only person who will ever know the real meaning behind the poem "Cradle Song" is William Blake.