User:Mandaleigh

Anna Letitia Barbauld’s 1795 poem “To a Little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible,” written during the height of social and political turmoil of the French Revolution, on the surface seems to be a poem about impending motherhood. The speaker of the poem marvels at the unborn child’s capacity to learn from nature and the world once he/she is born. The speaker seems hesitant and unsure about the birth itself, as well as the concept of motherhood. However, upon a closer reading, we see that motherhood functions symbolically as a comparison between society and the individual, and the speaker of the poem is concerned about the growing power of revolution and change. This maternal relationship between society and its members serves as a model for us to interpret Barbauld’s claims about British Romanticism. Barbauld splits the poem crisply into nine quatrains with the conventional abab rhyme scheme. The first four stanzas speculate about the slow but steady growth of the baby and its strange powers over the mother. “Germ of new life, whose powers expanding slow for many a moon their full perfection wait.” (1-2) The baby has a mystifying effect over the new mother, and her descriptions about the baby’s future seem oddly prophetic. “How little canst thou guess thy lofty claim to grasp at all the worlds the Almighty wrought!” (8-9) The mother becomes unsettled and further segregated with the baby’s arrival, as other women around prepare for it. “The nurse prepares her lulling songs, the eager matrons count the lingering day” (13-14) The overall tone of the poem is anything but celebratory or affectionate. The strangely detached title is matched by an even more detached tone. Throughout the poem, Barbauld refers to the unborn child as “germ of new life,” (1) “infant bud of being,” (12) “stranger guest,” (23) and “little captive.” (29) She refers to the womb as a “living tomb,” (20) and instructs the infant to “burst thy prison doors.”(29) The poem shifts dramatically in content starting with the fifth stanza when the mother laments “she only asks to lay her burden down” (17) and acknowledges her concerns about being able to deliver as a nurturing maternal presence with “she longs to fold to her maternal breast part of herself, yet to herself unknown.” (21-22) The rhyme scheme also transitions to a detached abac, further distancing the speaker from the content. The second half of the fifth stanza talks about the parasitic relationship that the mother feels with the infant in being his/her complete caregiver “To see and to salute the stranger guest fed with her life through many a tedious moon.” (23-24) Yet to compliment this bittersweet relationship, another shift in tone happens in the sixth stanza when the mother urges the infant to fulfill his/her potential and “reap thy rich inheritance of love,” (25) “launch on the living world, and spring to light!” (30) Seemingly, an understanding has been reached between mother and child, in which the mother acknowledges the innate potential of her baby. The best the mother can hope for is to foster the growth, nurture the growing child and hope for the best. “If charmed verse or muttered prayers had any power […] Anxious I’d bid my beads each passing hour till thy wished smile thy mother’s pangs o’erpay.” (33-36) Barbauld’s statement about this maternal relationship serves as a metaphor of functionality between members and society. The dynamics of the parental relationship portrayed in Barbauld’s poem suggests that the mother (society) nurtures only for the sake of ensuring the baby (people) survives, without any real passion in being the caretaker. The mother is initially unsettled at the thought of “nature’s sharpest pangs […] that free thee living from thy living womb.” (19) However, once she comes to terms with the inevitable birth, she urges the “little captive” (29) to “burst thy prison doors” (29). Barbauld, like Hannah More, takes a conservative approach to social and political issues in her other works, and “To a Little Invisible Being” is no exception. Rather than present a solution to the social problems that plagued British society in 1795, Barbauld contents herself with analyzing the development of the people involved. Her language suggests a sense of disgust and detachment from the people, “germ of new life,” (1) “swarms of new life,” (11) “infant bud of being,” (12) “her burden,” (17) and “the stranger guest,” (23) This sense of disgust is matched by a refusal to present a solution to the problem, and Barbauld even resigns herself to the thought that poetry will do nothing to change the problems; “If charmed verse or muttered prayers had any power […] to speed thee on thy way, anxious I’d bid my beads each passing hour.” (33-35) Barbauld’s “To a Little Invisible Being” presents an ironic view on what we typically view as enlightened, Romantic poetry. She offers a complicated interpretation of the social and political problems in 1795 England, by comparing the relationship between society and its members to an unwilling and fearful mother who feels detached from her unborn baby. She urges the baby’s potential in a non-specific way by praising the baby’s limitless future. However, she acknowledges the distance between them and the obvious disconnect in communication, making any kind of productive dialogue impossible. Her only solution is to foster growth, encourage productivity and remain removed from the situation. In this way, we see Barbauld’s thoughts about the relationship between society and its members.