# Baby — Poetry character guide

> Baby in Poetry by George MacDonald.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0426-the-christmas-child

## Snapshot

A small immortal on the threshold of Time, whose broken prattle and wondering eyes become the poem's image of the soul being raised toward heaven.

## Who they are

Baby is the cause of everything in the strange room of the poem — the reason Satan pauses, the reason doors are opened, the reason a long speech about clocks and mock-books and the epiphany unfolds. She is 'plant of heaven, rooted lowly,' who must live in wonder, see nothing common, love the colour and the newness, and never part with her childhood though she change her brain. She matters because she is the collection's most tender argument: that the soul is not made by knowledge but by love, and that the smallest child may be 'very thought of God.'

## In the story

### [The Child-Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/the-child-mother)

The younger child carried by the Child-Mother; remains unharmed and cheerful throughout the ordeal.

### [A Prayer for the Past](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/a-prayer-for-the-past)

A little child who sees the sun, incarnating God's old law and bringing new joy.

### [My Room](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/my-room)

The speaker's child, described as a 'small immortal' and 'very thought of God,' who must be taught to see wonder in all things and to distinguish true worth from mere appearance.

### [Sympathy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/sympathy)

The ten-month-old infant whose innocent smile and calling of the narrator's name prompts a meditation on God's love.

### [Little Elfie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/little-elfie)

Elfie, a three-and-a-half-year-old child, is the central figure, described with puppet-jointed limbs, wild hair, and impish hands.

### [A Dream of Waking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/a-dream-of-waking)

The unwanted child born in sin and shame, rejected by his mother but defended by his sister.

### [The Children’s Heaven](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/the-children-s-heaven)

The infant lying in blessed ease on its mother's breast, unaware of change or death.

### [Baby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/baby)

The central figure of the poem, whose origins and features are questioned and answered.

### [Cottage Songs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/cottage-songs)

The sleeping infant watched over by Sis and mother, surrounded by God's presence.

### [I: By the Cradle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/i-by-the-cradle)

The infant being put to sleep, addressed as 'dear baby'.

### [Christmas Day and Every Day](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/christmas-day-and-every-day)

The lowly baby at the center of the Nativity scene.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters/baby
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters