Sleep! Sleep! Beauty Bright
Sleep! Sleep! Beauty Bright - meaning Summary
Innocence Rocked to Sleep
Blake addresses a sleeping infant, celebrating childhood innocence and tender beauty while hinting at latent power within the child. The poem balances soothing imagery of sleep and soft smiles with a warning that the child’s waking will release intense, disruptive energy. It frames infancy as both gentle and potent, suggesting that apparent helplessness conceals forces that will later reshape the world. Tone mixes lullaby calm with prophetic awe.
Read Complete AnalysesSleep! sleep! beauty bright, Dreaming o'er 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 does rest. O! the cunning wiles that creep In thy little heart asleep. When thy little heart does wake Then the dreadful lightnings break, From thy cheek and from thy eye, O'er the youthful harvests nigh. Infant wiles and infant smiles Heaven and Earth of peace beguiles.
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