Baby Charley. Poem by Sidney Lanier

'Baby Charley by Sidney Lanier seems to be a brave attempt by the narrator to cheer up his wife, by implying that Baby Charley is asleep and not dead, with references in the first and second stanzas to Baby Charley's cute lifelike poses. The beauty of Baby Charley is intensified with Heaven-lights, I know, are beaming through Those lucent eyelids, veined with blue, That shut away from mortal view Large eyes of Baby Charley. Further comfort is purchased with another beautiful heavenly reference 'O sweet Sleep-Angel, throned now On the round glory of his brow', but pain creeps into the final stanza of the poem with recognition of loss, and the noble declaration I vow that my heart, when death is nigh, Shall never shiver with a sigh For act of hand or tongue or eye That wronged my Baby Charley! Interesting that the last two lines add a mystery concerning Baby Charley's death. Was the death caused by a deliberate 'act of hand' or an evil tongue or eye, implying a superstitious belief in an age when the evil eye was considered to possess the power to harm. A well written poem but not a topic I have had the misfortune to write upon.

Such tender love and wish. Nice poem. I love this piece, how the baby is painted with words

i like the way it says oh sweet child joy

Oh the joy of new parenthood! Savor it friends. Soon baby Charley will be walking in the door with a rainbow Mohawk and metal piercings everywhere saying how much he hates you..... Ah, the joy of parenting....