1. Baby Sitting – Gillian Clarke
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

2. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
This is not as straightforward as it seems because the poem is open to several interpretations. Lets start with what Gillian Clarke herself says about the poem:
Q: My teacher and some of my class think the poem is about post-natal depression. I think it's about baby-sitting. Who is right? A: You are right. You've listened carefully to the language of the poem, and trusted the poet. The evidence is on your side. Start with the title: 'Baby-Sitting'. This is a deliberate choice, and intended to guide the reader. In line 1 and line 2 there are two important words: 'strange' to describe the room, and 'wrong' to describe the baby. I, the baby-sitter, am telling you, the reader, that I am sitting in an unfamiliar room, not in my own house. Then I tell you that I am listening for 'the wrong baby', that is, not my baby. Later, I emphasise this: 'I don't love this baby.'
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

3. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
Look at the last two lines of the first verse: that this baby's breath 'fails to enchant me' implies that I understand the experience of being enchanted by a baby's breath. I use the word 'perfume' - something joyfully experienced as a mother.
The second verse is all about the baby's feeling in the company of a stranger. It describes the baby's fear and loneliness. Further proof that the baby-sitter is not sorry for herself, but sorry for the baby. Readers who think about post natal depression must say that it is THEIR thought, and must first take note of the clear intention of the poet before they add their own thoughts .
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

4. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
Q: What is 'the monstrous land'? A: The baby's bad dream. Maybe what woke the baby was a dream about monsters. Q: Why have you used the words 'snuffly, roseate, bubbling sleep.'? A: The words describe a baby sleeping, snuffly, with rosy cheeks and a bubbly nose.
Q: What is 'the monstrous land'? A: The baby's bad dream. Maybe what woke the baby was a dream about monsters. Q: Why have you used the words 'snuffly, roseate, bubbling sleep.'? A: The words describe a baby sleeping with a bubbly nose.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

5. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
Q: What do you mean by ‘the wrong baby’? A: From its birth a baby knows its own mother, and a mother knows her baby. There is, usually, a powerful bond from the start. There has to be for us human beings to survive. If you watch a flock of sheep you’ll see how the lambs, which all look the same to us, run crying to find their mothers. The ‘wrong baby’ is the wrong lamb. There is no bond between the baby sitter and the baby, so they are wrong for each other. Q: Why are you afraid of the baby? A: The baby sitter is scared that the baby will wake, and she won’t be able to comfort her.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

6. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
Q: What is ‘the bleached bone in the terminal ward’? A: I imagine a man dying in a hospital ward, the curtains drawn about his bed, his wife watching. His body is a bony shape under the white sheet, like, I thought, a ‘bleached bone’ on a beach. Surely a baby crying for its mother feels as abandoned as that woman seeing her husband die. I am still surprised that such a bleak image came to me as I wrote about such an ordinary activity as baby sitting. I was trying to look at loss from a baby’s point of view
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

7. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
Now from
Gillian Clarke's poem centres on her experience of baby-sitting for a baby that is asleep but will wake up to find the baby-sitter, a stranger, and feel that it has been abandoned by the mother.
The first stanza opens with the baby-sitter sitting in a 'strange room', telling us that this must be the first time that the sitter has looked after that baby. She is waiting for 'the wrong baby' to wake up, and so we assume that the baby-sitter is a mother herself. Speaking in the first person, the poet tells us quite openly that she doesn't love the baby, and this emphasizes the fact that she is a stranger. She goes on to describe the baby in quite an endearing way; snuffling in its sleep, it is fair haired and not unattractive. The narrator, however, actually feels afraid that the baby will hate her when confronted with her on waking; 'she will shout / her hot midnight rage' conveys the idea of angry cries and screams. The description of the baby towards the end of the stanza, now that it is no longer sleeping peacefully, becomes less flattering. Her nose will run 'disgustingly', and the baby-sitter will find the smell of her breath unpleasant.
At the start of the second stanza, the baby-sitter imagines that the baby, on seeing her, will feel that she has been deserted by her mother: 'To her, I will represent absolute /Abandonment

8. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
The baby's situation and feelings are then compared to other extremely lonely situations, such as a lover alone in bed, 'cold in lonely / Sheets.' The baby's loneliness will be worse than this, worse even than the sorrow of a woman visiting her husband in the terminal ward of a hospital. Sleep is depicted by the metaphor 'the monstrous land' from which the baby will awaken, crying. It will expect to be breastfed by the mother: 'stretching for milk-familiar comforting', but instead will be held by a stranger. The repetition in the final line of the phrase 'It will not come' serves to illustrate the fact that there is no bond between the baby-sitter and the baby; no comfort will be found.
Gillian Clarke has painted a sensitive picture here, seeing the situation from the point of view of the baby, imagining exactly how it must feel on awakening to find a stranger instead of its mother. She also understands how the baby-sitter will react, actually feeling fear because the baby will not welcome her presence. It is a convincing picture, giving an unusual slant on what to us is probably a commonplace situation.

9. Baby Sitting – The Story of the Poem
One thing I would like to add. When I first read the poem I was really struck by the reference to the body in the ‘terminal ward’ and I saw the character in the poem as a mother whose daughter had just died, probably from cancer, and now she must look after her granddaughter but resents that it is the wrong baby because the right baby, her baby is dead.
Whichever way you look at it the babysitter does not relate to the baby she has been left in charge of. The reasons for this are not made clear in the poem, but it also struck me that as a babysitter she is completely unsuited for the job.
I have not come across a reference like this anywhere else and it does not reflect what Gillian Clarke herself says about the poem but it does show that there is more than one way of looking at a poem.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

10. Baby Sitting – Structure
Mini Task 1: How is the poem structured
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

11. Baby Sitting – Structure
The poem consists of two, ten-line stanzas with lines of slightly varying length between 7-11 syllables.
Mini Task 2:
Mark the Rhyme and the enjambment in the poem.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening 10 For the wrong baby. I don’t love 8 This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly 10 Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; 8 She is a perfectly acceptable child. 11 I am afraid of her. If she wakes 8 She will hate me. She will shout 7 Her hot midnight rage, her nose 7 Will stream disgustingly and the perfume 10 Of her breath will fail to enchant me. 9
To her I will represent absolute 10 Abandonment. For her it will be worse 10 Than for the lover cold in lonely 9 Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits 9 A moment to collect her dignity 10 Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. 11 As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land 11 Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, 10 She will find me and between us two 2 It will not come. It will not come. 8

12. Baby Sitting – Structure
Mini Task 2:
Mark the Rhyme and the enjambment in the poem.
There is no rhyming so this is a free-verse poem.
However there is a lot of enjambment so many that 14 of the 20 lines run straight into the following one.
Mini Task 3: Mark the caesura in the poem.
Vocab:
Caesura: a pause near the middle of a line.
Mini Task 4:
What is the effect of the free-verse format, the enjambment and caesura?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening  For the wrong baby. I don’t love  This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly  Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes  She will hate me. She will shout  Her hot midnight rage, her nose  Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute  Abandonment. For her it will be worse  Than for the lover cold in lonely  Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits  A moment to collect her dignity  Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land  Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two  It will not come. It will not come. 

13. Baby Sitting – Structure
Mini Task 3: Mark the caesura in the poem.
Breaks occur frequently in the middle of lines, particularly in the first stanza. These breaks a called ‘caesura’.
Mini Task 4:
What is the effect of the free-verse format, the enjambment and caesura?
They all help to enhance the ‘prose-like’ feel of the poem.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. // I don’t love This baby.  // She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her.  //  If she wakes She will hate me.  // She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment.  // For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets;  // worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

14. Baby Sitting – Structure : Alliteration
Mini Task 5: Identify the alliteration used in the poem.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

15. Baby Sitting – Structure : Alliteration
Mini Task 5: Identify the alliteration used in the poem.
Mini Task 6: Identify the Repetition used in the poem.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

16. Baby Sitting – Structure : Repetition
Mini Task 6: Identify the Repetition used in the poem.
Mini Task 7: What do you notice about the repetition in the
poem?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

17. Baby Sitting – Structure : Repetition
Mini Task 6: Identify the Repetition used in the poem.
Mini Task 7: What do you notice about the repetition in the
poem?
The is more repetition in Stanza 1 then Stanza 2.
There is some repetition on every line in stanza 1.
Stanza 2 has repetition at the beginning and end of the stanza.
There is no repetition at all in the ‘deathly’ centre of the stanza.
Mini Task 8: What is the effect of the alliteration and
repetition in the poem?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

18. Baby Sitting – Structure : Alliteration & Repetition
Mini Task 8: What is the effect of the alliteration and
repetition in the poem?
The alliteration and frequent repetition help to give the poem some rhythm.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

19. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 1 – Lines 1-4
Mini Task 9:
What is the effect of the repetition of ‘wrong’.
What is the effect of “I don’t love this baby.”
What is the surprise then in the description of the baby?
What are ‘snuffly’ and ‘bubbly’ examples of?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

20. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 1 – Lines 1-4
Mini Task 9:
What is the effect of the repetition of ‘wrong’.
As a reader you immediately share the disquiet and discomfort the Babysitter feels. The fact that she is listening ‘for’ the baby to wake up enhances the unease she/we feel. It’s not right!
What is the effect of “I don’t love this baby.”
I find such a blunt statement as this quite shocking. There is no sense of affection shown towards the sleeping child at all.
What is the surprise then in the description of the baby?
Having told id it was the wrong baby and she didn’t love it, the child is described in quite affectionate terms.
What are ‘snuffly’ and ‘bubbly’ examples of?
Onomatopoeia & Sensory imagery
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

21. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 1 – Lines 5-7
Mini Task 10:
What is ‘odd’ about Line 5?
What is ‘odd’ about Line 6?
What is the question you need to ask about Line 7?
What is the answer to the above question?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

22. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 1 – Lines 5-7
Mini Task 10:
What is ‘odd’ about Line 5?
It is a very unusual way to describe a baby. We usually use terms like ‘cute’ or ‘sweet’ when talking about a baby, here ‘acceptable’ though a ‘neutral’ term seems very harsh and demonstrates emotional detachment by the babysitter.
What is ‘odd’ about Line 6?
That’s she’s afraid. How can a small baby hurt her? What’s she got to be afraid of? If she is young, then maybe not knowing what to do. If an adult, then the baby must represent something else she fears.
What is the question you need to ask about Line 7?
Why?
What is the answer to the above question? She is
hated for not being her mother and able to feed her.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

23. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 1 – Lines 7-10
Mini Task 11:
What’s her “midnight rage”?
Why does her “nose stream disgustingly”?
What is ”the perfume of her breath” an example of?
What does the unenchanting breath tell you?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

24. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 1 – Lines 7-10
Mini Task 11:
What’s her “midnight rage”?
The baby waking up for her ‘midnight’ feed and finding no mother there to feed her.
Why does her “nose stream disgustingly”?
It is a natural result of her crying and crying until her needs are satisfied.
What is ”the perfume of her breath” an example of?
Sensory (smell) imagery.
What does the unenchanting breath tell you?
It is another example of the alienation that the babysitter feels. The baby’s mother would not be disgusted by the smell of the baby’s breath.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

25. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 11-14
Mini Task 12:
Why is the abandonment “absolute”?
How might you relate the image of the abandoned lover to the baby?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

26. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 11-14
Mini Task 12:
Why is the abandonment “absolute”?
The baby is not able to rationalize her mother’s absence, so the fact she wakes and her mother is not there is complete desertion for the child….and the babysitter knows/feels she is no replacement for the mother.
How might you relate the image of the abandoned lover to the baby?
The imagery used in the next few lines can seem bizarrely inappropriate. But, the baby may well be used to sleeping in the same bed as her mother (and father), so to wake alone can be equated with the abandoned lover. This line also prompts the question ‘Where is the father in all this’? Has he abandoned mother and child as the line suggests?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

27. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 11-14
Mini Task 13:
What might be the justification for the imagery in the poem to now disturbingly switch to the ‘terminal ward’?
What are the two key images in these lines?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

28. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 11-14
Mini Task 13:
What might be the justification for the imagery in the poem to now disturbingly switch to the ‘terminal ward’?
What are the two key images in these lines?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

29. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 11-14
Mini Task 13:
What might be the justification for the imagery in the poem to now disturbingly switching to the ‘terminal ward’?
The abandonment the baby feels is equivalent to a bereaved adult. The babysitter imagines that the mother not being there is so shocking for the child it is as if the mother had died. However this is a very powerful and disturbing image to introduce into a poem about babysitting. But in some ways it is a logical extension of the abandoned lover image, both deal with loss, only here the loss now incorporates death.
What are the two key images in these lines?
The woman sat by the deathbed and the wasted dead body on the bed.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

30. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 17-19
Mini Task 14:
What is the ‘monstrous land’ and why does ‘she rise sobbing’?
Explain the imagery in Line 18.
Explain the imagery in Line 19.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

31. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Lines 17-19
Mini Task 14:
What is the ‘monstrous land’ and why does ‘she rise sobbing’?
The baby wakes, sobbing, from a nightmare (needing her mother for food and comfort.)
Explain the imagery in Line 18.
As the baby wakes she stretches her arm up ready to be picked up by here mother for a comforting cuddle..
Explain the imagery in Line 19
Instead of finding her mother the baby will find an ‘unsympathetic ’ and ‘scared’ babysitter who does not seem to know what to do and how to comfort the baby.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

32. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Line 20
Mini Task 15:
Explain the repetition on Line 20.
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

33. Baby Sitting – The Poem in Detail
Stanza 2 – Line 20
Mini Task 15:
Explain the repetition on Line 20.
Milk will not come for the baby as the babysitter would seem not to be a new mother and is therefore not lactating. Why is she not able to bottle feed the baby then? Has something suddenly happened to the mother that she has had to go leaving no food for her child (very unusual!).
Comfort will not be forthcoming as the babysitter seems completely unable or too scared to offer any form of affection, even picking the child up to comfort her.
Love will not come as there seems to be none for this child.
Given the above, why is she babysitting at all?
I am sitting in the wrong room listening For the wrong baby. I don’t love This baby. She is sleeping a snuffly Roseate, bubbling sleep; she is fair; She is a perfectly acceptable child. I am afraid of her. If she wakes She will hate me. She will shout Her hot midnight rage, her nose Will stream disgustingly and the perfume  Of her breath will fail to enchant me.
To her I will represent absolute Abandonment. For her it will be worse Than for the lover cold in lonely Sheets; worse than for the woman who waits A moment to collect her dignity Beside the bleached bone in the terminal ward. As she rises sobbing from the monstrous land Stretching for milk–familiar comforting, She will find me and between us two It will not come. It will not come. 

34. Also see: biddickacademy.com/uploaded/PMc%20Baby%20Sitting.ppt