Lyric Poem · Life
Infant Joy
"I have no name;
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while;
Sweet joy befall thee!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Infant Joy” by William Blake — quilloak.com/poems/infant-joy
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.
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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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