The Birth of Love

When Love was born of heavenly line,
What dire intrigues disturbed Cythera's joy!
Till Venus cried, "A mother's heart is mine;
None but myself shall nurse my boy,"

But, infant as he was, the child
In that divine embrace enchanted lay;
And, by the beauty of the vase beguiled,
Forgot the beverage--and pined away.

"And must my offspring languish in my sight?"
(Alive to all a mother's pain,
The Queen of Beauty thus her court addressed)
"No: Let the most discreet of all my train
Receive him to her breast:
Think all, he is the God of young delight."

Then TENDERNESS with CANDOUR joined,
And GAIETY the charming office sought;
Nor even DELICACY stayed behind:
But none of those fair Graces brought

Wherewith to nurse the child--and still he pined.
Some fond hearts to COMPLIANCE seemed inclined;
But she had surely spoiled the boy:
And sad experience forbade a thought
On the wild Goddess of VOLUPTUOUS JOY.

Long undecided lay th' important choice,
Till of the beauteous court, at length, a voice
Pronounced the name of HOPE:--The conscious child
Stretched forth his little arms, and smiled.

'Tis said ENJOYMENT (who averred
The charge belonged to her alone)
Jealous that HOPE had been preferred
Laid snares to make the babe her own.

Of INNOCENCE the garb she took,
The blushing mien and downcast look;
And came her services to proffer:
And HOPE (what has not Hope believed!)
By that seducing air deceived,
Accepted of the offer.

It happened that, to sleep inclined,
Deluded HOPE: for one short hour
To that false INNOCENCE'S power
Her little charge consigned.

The Goddess then her lap with sweetmeats filled
And gave, in handfuls gave, the treacherous store:
A wild delirium first the infant thrilled;
But soon upon her breast he sunk--to wake no more.

Background and Analysis of This Poem

William Wordsworth's The Birth of Love is a curious and elegant allegory about the fragility of love at its beginning. Instead of presenting Love as the familiar winged archer, confident and mischievous, Wordsworth imagines Love as an infant who must be carefully nursed if he is to survive. The setting draws from classical mythology, with Venus, or Cythera, presiding over the newborn child. Yet the poem is not simply decorative myth-making. Beneath its graceful surface lies a serious question: what does love need in order to grow?

The opening surprise is that Venus herself, the traditional goddess of love and beauty, cannot preserve the child by mere possession. She claims a mother's right to nurse him, but Love is distracted by the "beauty of the vase" and forgets the nourishment he actually needs. This is a delicate but pointed distinction. Beauty surrounds Love, but beauty alone is not enough to sustain it. Wordsworth seems wary of love that is charmed by surfaces, elegance or sensual delight before it has developed strength of soul. The child is born "of heavenly line", but even heavenly origins do not make him safe.

Various figures then gather around the infant, each suggesting a possible nurse or guardian. This gives the poem the feel of a moral pageant, with qualities competing to shape the future of Love. The final and proper nurse is Hope, whose presence restores the child. That choice is important. For Wordsworth, love must be nourished by expectation, trust and forward-looking tenderness. Hope gives Love not simply pleasure, but duration. It allows affection to imagine a future for itself, which may be why the infant revives under her care.

The poem's darker turn comes when Enjoyment enters disguised as Innocence. This is one of the most revealing moments in the poem, because Wordsworth does not condemn happiness itself. The danger lies in pleasure that pretends to be pure, immediate and harmless, while quietly displacing the deeper nourishment Love needs. Enjoyment offers sweets, and the infant responds, but the result is fatal. The image is almost fairy-tale simple, yet morally subtle. Love can be weakened not only by cruelty or neglect, but by indulgence that arrives too soon and asks too little.

This concern fits well with Wordsworth's broader poetic interest in feeling shaped by moral and imaginative discipline. The Poetry Foundation describes Wordsworth as a central figure of English Romanticism, concerned with nature, perception, common life and the inward growth of the mind. The Birth of Love is more overtly allegorical than many of his best-known poems, but it shares that fascination with how inner life is formed. Love is not treated as a fixed force that simply appears fully grown. It is vulnerable, educable and easily misled.

For modern readers, The Birth of Love may feel old-fashioned in its mythological furniture, but its emotional insight remains fresh. New love can indeed be fragile. It may be dazzled by beauty, revived by hope, and damaged by shallow enjoyment masquerading as innocence. Wordsworth's little myth suggests that love requires more than attraction or pleasure if it is to live. It needs care, patience and a future large enough to breathe in. Without those, even Love himself may pine away in the nursery.