the poem baby song by Thom Gunn is written from the point of view of a young baby freshly out in the world. The poem being written in this point of view allows the reader to understand the baby's longing to return to the womb. Gunn explores themes of transition and loss throughout the poem.

Gunn presents the young baby's viewpoint successfully by using form and structure. The poem is written in rhyming couplets which creates a lullaby-like rhythm, this from the starts portrays to the reader the baby's youth. In the first couplet Gunn introduces the theme of loss as the baby narrates "of mothers womb/ i fall" This use of enjambement successfully echoes the unstoppable, chaotic transition from the womb into the real world. Gunn uses this to remind the reader of the fixed cyclic nature of life that you understand more with age. Therefore Gunn may be suggesting that knowledge and understanding only comes with age and experience further emphasizing the baby's naivety to the real world. The regular rhyme scheme and simple structure mirror the ordered, comforting world the baby first experiences, making the later feelings of distress and change feel more dramatic.

Another way Gunn illustrates a young persons viewpoint is via hyperbolic language. "I lie there raging, small and red." The tricolon builds intensity and creates vivid imagery of the baby's distress. The plosive sounds give the line a violent spitting rhythm, it is almost onomatopoeic as you can hear the fury and discomfort of the baby. This further presents the viewpoint of the baby as distressed and angry. This line contrasts when the baby "padded and jolly ... would ride" now the baby is presented as exposed and pained. This further sharpens the contrast between the comfort of the past and the trauma of the present. The dramatic language used by Gunn creates a semantic field of violence. Gunn uses juxtaposition between "i lie there" which carries a tone of incapability with "raging" to highlight the babys helplessness despite its intense emotions. The asyndetic list adds to the already created semantic field. It also represents the compressed intensity the baby is dealing with. Gunn presents the baby's viewpoint about birth as extremely but understandably dramatic.

Gunn uses questions and simple rhetoric to further remind the reader of the baby's innocent viewpoint of the world. The question "why don't they simply put me back/where its warm and wet and black?" reflects the babys confusion and conveys the naïve logic assuming returning to the womb is easy. The use of polysyndeton slows the rhythm and makes the description of the womb soothing and calm. Gunn uses this technique to portray allow the reader to understand why the baby wishes to return so greatly. The colour "black" portrays unknowingness, the baby enjoyed not having knowledge or the need to think. Gunn reflects how at every age you will face challenges as the world is challenging. This couplet appears near the beginning of the poem therefore introducing the theme of longing for lost safety. Gunn shows the reader that for the parents; birth brings joy. However for the baby its life doesn't begin with joy, it begins with loss. Therefore the baby's viewpoint shifts from innocence with this question to a tone fury , with the baby possessing an angry viewpoint on the world as the poem concludes. This highlights the theme of transition that is prominent throughout the poem.

In conclusion Gunn portrays a young persons viewpoint of the world as confusing and scary. He utilises the transition into consciousness to reflect on how all life starts with confusion and therefore knowledge and understanding is not what we are born with, it is only gained as you travel through life's challenges, the first of which is birth. The use of simple rhetoric highlights to us that it is the viewpoint of a young person and the gradual shift in tone from comfort to rage highlights the beginning of the journey to understanding. As the reader Gunn provides us with an insight into emotions we cannot remember. Through the poem’s simple yet intense form, Gunn captures the overwhelming emotions of early life, showing how even a new-born feels profound love, loss, and longing.