“To a Little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible”

Anna Laetitia Barbauld’s “To a Little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible” is a poem that is uplifting and brings a sense of peace and hope to the reader. The poem is about a child waiting to be born and the excitement, hope and love that surrounds the birth.

The setting of the poem seems to be in spring time since the “fresh younglings shoot, and opening roses glow!/ Swarms of new life exulting fill the air” (lines 10-11). Spring is a wonderful and heartening time because it is full of life, birth and growth. Spring encompasses fresh new starts with new beginnings of life and promising visions of the future.

There is always so much excitement and anticipation with the process of birth because a new born child is full of potential. No one knows what to expect with this new little stranger and what they are capable of, what they will accomplish and how they will live their life. Everyone wonders what will the child be like and “what powers lie folded in thy curious frame” (5). A new born child is like a blank slate that has the capability to achieve anything within their life; therefore, they should take charge of their life and “launch on the living world, and spring to light!/ Nature fir thee displays her various stores,/ Opens her thousand inlets of delight” (30-32). I especially enjoy the lines when the narrator states: “Haste, little captive, burst thy prison doors” (29) and compares a womb to a “living tomb” (20) because the language is humorous yet empowering towards life. A child does not have the choice to remain locked up within a womb for approximately nine months; however, once the child is released they have the opportunity to do anything with their life since it is a new beginning.

Along with the feelings of hope and enthusiasm regarding birth comes the feelings of anxiousness due to the process of preparing and waiting for the child to be born. The mother within the poem is earnestly awaiting the arrival of a new individual and dreaming about the pleasure that the child will bring her. The mother experiences numerous emotions of complete love towards her unborn child yet also bits of hesitation because “she longs to fold to her maternal breast/ Part of herself, yet to herself unknown;/ To see and to salute the stranger guest” (21-23). Even though the mother has carried the child within her, and the child is a part of her there is still the feeling of uncertainty because a new born child is in a sense a stranger that the mother is in the process of getting to know.

This poem is inspiring for me not only because it shows the joys that a child can bring but also the poem brings hope for my own future. The poem does not contain a message for new born children but for individuals at any age. We should all be in the mindset that I have the ability to accomplish anything I set my mind to.