“Baby Lies So Fast Asleep” (A Poem)

In 1893, the British poetess Christina Rossetti released an illustrated collection of rhymes focused on the wonders of childbirth and infant rearing. Like so many versions before and after it, Rossetti’s text is filled with tender depictions of children and romanticized presentations of parenthood. Unlike many of its peers, the work also presents darker entries which explore the pains of loss. Two such pieces, “Baby Lies So Fast Asleep” and “A Baby’s Cradle with No Baby in It,” comment on the high infant mortality rate which marred Victorian society and present a poignant glimpse into the era’s mourning process.

Baby lies so fast asleep
That we cannot wake her:
Will the Angels clad in white
Fly from heaven to take her?

Baby lies so fast asleep
That no pain can grieve her;
Put a snowdrop in her hand,
Kiss her once and leave her.[1]

Works Referenced

Rossetti, Christina. “Baby Lies So Fast Asleep.” Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book. London. MacMillan and Company, 1893. 132.
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[1] Rossetti, 132.