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Lyric Poem · Life

Infant Joy

by William Blake

1"I have no name;

2I am but two days old."

3What shall I call thee?

4"I happy am,

5Joy is my name."

6Sweet joy befall thee!

7Pretty joy!

8Sweet joy, but two days old.

9Sweet Joy I call thee:

10Thou dost smile,

11I sing the while;

12Sweet joy befall thee!

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
Infant Joy
Poet
William Blake
Length
12 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Life

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
12 lines · 2 sestets
Refrain
Sweet joy befall thee!Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
William Blake1757–1827
Source record
PoetryDBInfant Joy by william-blake, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 9673c0d543c87684
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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