Poetry · Chapter
The Drunkard’s Child explained
A dying child on a wretched pallet calls his drunken father to his side.
What happens
A dying child on a wretched pallet calls his drunken father to his side. The father, staggering and bloodshot, is moved by the child's smile and plea to be held and kissed before death. The child asks if they will meet in the holy city, and the father promises, holding his first-born as he dies.
Themes in this chapter
Motherhood and Family
The poem centers on the bond between father and child, showing a family torn apart by vice and reunited in a moment of death.
Hope and Redemption
The father's promise to meet his child in the holy city suggests a possibility of redemption even for a drunkard.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator describes the scene of the dying child and the drunken father.
- Father
The drunken father who comes to see his dying child, is moved to tears, and promises to meet the child in heaven.
- Jamie
The dying child who smiles at his father, asks to be held and kissed, and speaks of bright angels and the holy city.
Key passages
“He stood beside his dying child, With a dim and bloodshot eye; They’d won him from the haunts of vice To see his first-born die.”
The father, with red and unfocused eyes, was brought from his usual places of drinking to witness the death of his eldest child.
Introduces the father's drunken state and the reason he is present.
“A smile of recognition Lit up the glazing eye; “I’m very glad,” it seemed to say, “You’ve come to see me die.””
The dying child's eyes brightened with a smile that seemed to express happiness that his father had arrived to witness his final moments.
Shows the child's forgiving and welcoming attitude toward his father.
““My father!” said the dying child, (His voice was faint and low,) “Oh! clasp me closely to your heart, And kiss me ere I go. Bright angels beckon me away, To the holy city fair— Oh! tell me, father, ere I go, Say, will you meet me there?””
The child, speaking weakly, asks his father to hold him tight and kiss him before he dies, and then asks if his father will join him in heaven.
The child's plea for affection and concern for his father's eternal fate.
“He clasped him to his throbbing heart, “I will! I will!” he said; His pleading ceased—the father held His first-born and his dead!”
The father embraced the child tightly and promised to meet him in heaven, but the child had already stopped breathing, leaving the father holding his dead son.
The father's promise and the child's death occur simultaneously.