PRAYER BEFORE BIRTH An Irishman by birth. Louis MacNeice was born in Belfast.He was the son of an Anglican Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore. After pursuing a brilliant career at Merton College, Oxford, he was appointed lecturer in classes at Birmingham University in 1930. Travelling widely when he was lecturing at Cornell in 1941 the Battle of Britain caused his return to England. From 1941 to 1949 he wrote extensively and produced radio broadcasts for the B.B.C. MacNeice's chief collections of verse are Blind Fireworks, The Earth Compels, Autumn Journals, Plant and Phantom, Springboard, The Dark Tower, Ten Burnt Offerings, Visitations and Solstices. His central theme is a pitiless exposure of the ills of the modern industrial civilisation, in which money is everything and higher values nothing. It is sick, in which "The excess sugar of a diabetic culture Rotting the nerve of life and literature." (From An Eclogue for Christmas) He also shows an equal awareness of the danger posed by the Fascists and the failure of democracy. This particularly forms the subject of Autumn Journal. But he does not advocate any particular social or political theory to set these ills right. He wants people's awareness to grow. While his general tone is satirical, the final impression left on the mind is that of pity rather than bitterness. He, therefore, appeals more to the emotions than to the intellect. In this sense he is a romantic, notwithstanding the stark realism of his subjects. For the same reason, he is an expert in lyrics. While he resembles the other poets of the Oxford group (like Auden, Spender, Ceil Day Lewis etc.) in the choice of his subjects and vocabulary, he is unlike them in the sonorousness of his verse. His poems display all easy colloquial tone coupled with sensitive intellectual protest. Prayer Before Birth occurs in Collected Poems published in 1949. Here the unborn poet prays for freedom -freedom from fears, restrictions, delusions and tyranny of the . totalitarian state. Man is reduced to an automation under modern state. He is turned into a robot and is subject to the coercions of the state and its institutions. He is made to speak and think. He cannot use his free will and enjoy the soothing and blissful aspects of Nature that help the natural growth of man. The poem is a protest against all these. BRIEF ANALYSIS Stanza 1: The first fear refers to all the frightening things of the night, both real and imaginary. Stanza 2: Next is the fear of being closed in by lies and persuasion, being led by drugs, tortured both mentally and physically, and being made to participate in warfare and other massacres. Stanza 3: The poet makes a plea for the good things of life which today are fast disappearing: clean water, love, forests, birds and purity ("white light") as a guide. Stanza 4: The child asks for forgiveness for all the sins that the world is going to make him commit in the future: · his wrong words · his evil thoughts · those times when he is led to commit treason · the times when he will be forced to kill other people · ultimately for his own death of spirit because he has been forced to give into these social pressures. Stanza 5: The child asks to be guided into the part he must act in this dramatic performance of life so that he is able to perform his role correctly, and that he be given all the right clues on how to react when important people lecture him or laugh at him. · Note the metaphor of the stage. · Note too the extended personification: mountains frowning, deserts calling, etc. Stanza 6: A plea is made that tyrants and autocrats (like Adolph Hitler) may not be allowed to come near him. the stanzas grow in length. cut their skin and suck blood. creed. Occasionally they bite humans. however. Social pressure and prejudice are today almost unstoppable. Alliteration is the repetition of consonants and assonance of vowels. Failing that. . Vampire bats approach their sleeping preys on foot." The poem was written during World War II and it is highly probably that the poet means to allude to the Nazi concentration camps also. The speaker of the poem is a foetus – a very unusual point of view. Pound's reference to the young men who went to war "believing in old men's lies" and who "came home to a lie" to see "liars in public places" (Hugh Selwyn Mauberly). which man builds between himself. Club-footed Ghoul: frightening monster. How old is the foetus? The poem has eight stanzas and so some critics argue that the foetus might be eight months old.2. he would rather be aborted right away. Dope: dull my senses Wise lies: the lies the political leaders tell you to get your support for war. language.5. NOTES SENSE: The poet looks through the eyes of an unborn child at all the fears that face modern humanity. They spread diseases like rabies. and asks God (or humanity?) to spare him these terrors. The blood-sucking bat: the vampire bat found in Central and South America. only that the fears it expresses in the latter stanza are mature and more serious fears. Cf. L. they might tell you that war is necessary to end all wars. CLOSER ANALYSIS Line 1.Stanza 7: He asks for the strength not to become a killing machine ("lethal automaton") or just a part in a machine ("cog in a machine"): · he pleads that he be not allowed to become inhuman ("a thing") or something that is completely at the mercy of others ("blow me like thistledown hither and thither". The first stanza refers to certain fears of the child. Tagore'S words: "Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls. It preys on the dead. The Nazi ideology of racial superiority. This stanza is similar in structure to stanza 6. or his life be wasted. TONE: The poet examines the despair which faces modern man. L. they are every child's fears during childhood. etc. and his neighbours. With tall walls wall me: 'Walls' refers to the barriers of caste. For example.or spilt as if he were just water. The child mentions some animals-both real and imaginary-and prays to God to protect it from them. drugged the Germans to the extent of behaving madly. L. The phrase "with tall walls wall me" contains both alliteration and assonance. The unborn child needs to be comforted for soon it will be born into an evil world. It is interesting to note that to keep pace with the foetal growth every month and to suggest increasing intellectual and emotional complexity. The poet makes an impassioned plea for children to be able to lead lives free from this. Note the use of alliteration and assonance in "with wise lies lure me". The poet looks through the eyes of an unborn child at the world and at the life awaiting it there. Line 6: with strong drugs dope me: The reference here is not to the evil of drug addiction but to the drugging effect of inhuman ideologies. Cf. that his plea will fall on deaf ears. Stanza 8: His final plea is that his heart may not turn to stone. for instance. The expression 'bat or the rat' in line 2 is an example of internal rhyme. There is a sense. Stoat: a small nocturnal animal of the weasel family with black-tipped tail. console me: comfort me. 4. Treason: crime against the country. In that case forgive me for misusing my life. of course. L. Cf. so much so that purity becomes its guide. 15. For the sins . Line 9.roar of war-planes in the London sky. I may be obliged to keep the evil people alive by dying for them. Dandle: to toss a child in the arms or to move it up and down on the knees. Hopkins in his "Wreck of the Deutschland" describes the sailors as being "dandled to and fro" by the waves leaping into the deck (line 126). grass. Rather than the white light at the back of the mind. L. The child is horrified to think of the many evil things waiting to be done by it. that is. The sight of a child splashing in a stream would make us imagine that the water is dandling the child. force me to take part in warfare and cause blood. L. actions like helping the enemies during the war etc. 11. commit. In that case forgive me for having died for the evil people. Hence the apology. which has its origin in God. makes him an instrument to accomplish its designs. The unborn child fears that in the world it will be forced by persuasion and lies to participate in warfare. My words: my wrong words. In Shelley's "To a Skylark" the skylark sings "from heaven or near it" filling the skies with sweet sounds. birds. forests.' . L. When he wrote this line. When they think me: When they think using my brain. He begs in advance to be forgiven for all this. A white light to guide me: Some critics explain the 'white light' as standing for purity. The child knows that there is no scope for independent action. to flow like rivers.14.10. . Robert Frost's line: "Not all thy tongues talking aloud/ Can be profound.7. However. The world (or the state) turns the individual into an instrument to carry out its will. The child is eager to make its stay on earth as comfortable as possible and so it makes a plea for those good things which are fast disappearing under the pressure of man's greed-water. L.8. L. The child would like to remain pure."("Tree at My Window") L. when the society speaks through me. Line 11 has'" been explained also as: 'Forgive me for my own death of spirit because I have> been forced to give in to those social pressures. deceiving and misinforming others. hurting.13. The society overpowers the individual. In blood baths roll me: soak me in blood. The poet is referring here to all kinds of persecution which the totalitarian governments use to get rid of opponents.Lure: to attract or tempt. Provide: to make available. under pressure of the sinful majority. the poet was probably thinking about the constant. Trees to talk to me: Poets often represent the trees as talking/whispering. it seems more reasonable to take it to mean the white light of conscience. Rack: an instrument of torture consisting of a frame on which the victim's body is stretched. it is the dictates of the state that will guide it in its life. etc. Forgive me God if my words hurt or deceive other people. The poet is thinking of Hitler's Germany. Sky to sing to me: Probably the poet has in mind the music of birds. When they speak me: When my voice becomes an indistinguishable strand in the collective voice. Lines 16-17: The world will murder using my hands. Traitors beyond me: traitors who are beyond my power to control.. My thoughts: The evil thoughts which the world will put into my mind so that I may turn them into evil actions.. L. But society is a collection of individuals. L. Frost's poem "Desert Places". 'Lecture' means to criticize someone for doing something. Line. The desert calls me to doom: When the desert calls me to ruin and destruction. L. to coerce Lethal: deadly Automaton: robot. Not that the speaker has done anything particularly shameful but the children have been brainwashed by the state to isolate people who held individualistic views. L. Old men lecture me: When I am subjected to criticism by those who think they have the right to 'correct' me. Mountains may also stand for the huge. The reference here is to tyrants and autocrats like Hitler and Stalin. To the state he is a fighting machine. 20. 'To frown' means to show anger.) L. Lovers laugh at me: When lovers mock at me for not being successful like them or for being different from them or for not being a lover at all.MacNeice's mind. Virginia Woolf's suicide in 1941 by jumping into the sea was still fresh in. the line may be explained as 'When my own despair drives me to doom. Mountains frown at me: Teach me how to react whet mountains show their disapproval of my actions. In the prevailing political set up. The child prays to God asking Him to rehearse it in all these roles so that it can act each role properly. 26. insurmountable problems of life. (Perhaps there is also a reference to the boating episode in Wordsworth's The Prelude). When my children curse me: When my children are ashamed of me.20-21.(A totalitarian set up demands absolute conformity and anyone who fails to conform is isolated and declared an enemy of the people.19. Note the imagery of the stage used in this section. L. Dragoon: to compel by military bullying.28 ff.' 'Desert' can also stand for. Perhaps there is here a reference to Stalinist Russia where children were encouraged to betray their parents if they did not toe the official line.24.33. Bureaucrats hector me: When government officials coerce me or pressurize me into doing the things they want. deep thought. White waves call me to folly: Folly means 'an unwise act'. . by bringing the eye-brows together. the society is a machine and a man is no more independent than the cog of a machine. Beggar refuses my gift: When I (or if I ) become such an ignominious character that even a beggar will avoid me. If we take desert as a symbol of the sense of emptiness an unfulfilled life may feel. Cues I must take: 'Cue' means the last word(s) of an actor's speech that serve(s) as a signal to the next speaker. 23. youth's spirit of adventure and the line may also mean: 'When I come to grief by pursuing my spirit of adventure. If we take 'white waves' as a symbol of the ebullience of youth. worry. 30: Freeze my humanity: stop the flow of the natural feelings of compassion and fellow feelings. L.'(Cf. ) L. as at least one critic has pointed out. In some respects the society the poet paints here resembles the world in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four.Line 18. In the parts I must play: In the various roles I will have to present on life's stage. a man who acts in a monotonous routine manner without active intelligence . etc. L. The mountain frowning at the child is probably nature accusing man of environmental degradation. 'folly' may mean the unwise actions (indiscretions) characteristic of youth. The old men who 'lecture' and the bureaucrats who 'hector' are typical of those who do not allow a person's individuality to express itself.21. Perhaps the poet means escaping the problems of life by choosing to end one's life. The child' realizes that all the world is a stage and that it will have to act different roles on the world's stage. 38. Lord let them not approach me. What do the images presented in this stanza tell us about the modern world as the poet portrays it? (4) STANZA 4 4.32. Why should stanza 6 be so short when compared to the other stanzas? (4) STANZA 7 7. They will tell me wise lies about the need to participate in warfare. I want the sky to sing to me. A thing with one face: one from among a collection of uniform beings. I fear the vampire bat and the rat.34. misinform or . What do all those creatures have in common? Why should the child be afraid of them? (4) STANZA 2 2. I will have to roll in the blood baths of massacres. besides. Thistledown: soft and light seed that floats and drifts on the wind L. Console me. Dissipate my entirety: cause my wholeness to disintegrate and disappear L. Why does the poet refer to the "tall walls". the "wise lies" and the "blood baths"? (4) STANZA 3 3. I want. I fear also the weasel and the frightening monster which preys on dead people. Let them realize that I am a human being with feelings of my own and that I am far too valuable a creature to be expended like water. they will torture me into submission. I am an unborn child. Comment on the final stanza as a suitable climax to the poem. What is the overriding image used in this stanza? Why would the child need help with the part that he plays? (4) STANZA 6 6. Provide the world with plenty of water so that I can splash in it. if I allow myself to be lured by the wise lies. Above all. They will drug me with sectarian ideologies. I am an unborn child. all of them having the same face L. Forgive me for the wrong words I might use. Hither and thither: here and there L. God. Let the earth remain a green place with the grass growing luxuriantly for me. trees to talk to me. (4) PARAPHRASE I am a foetus waiting to be born. I want that white light-the light of conscience-at the back of my mind.Cog: a catch or a tooth on a wheel L. I am not yet born. As I grow up. that is. let them not waste me like water. I seek your forgiveness in advance for the many sins the world will make me commit. Grant me my prayer. if I use my words to hurt. 0 Lord. I need to be consoled for there are many terrible things waiting for me in the world. 0 Lord. STANZA 1 1. Explain the "sins" mentioned here. If I demur. Let them not make a stone of me: Let them not harden me and turn me into as insensitive a 'thing as the stone. Why should the child feel responsible for them if he doesn't actually commit them? (4) STANZA 5 5. God.35. provide me with all those things a child needs to lead a happy and contented life in a healthy environment. Provide the earth with birds also. 31. the "black racks". What is the common theme with all the wishes contained in this stanza? (4) STANZA 8 8. the world will surround me with high walls. regimentation and progressive robotization of the individual. Rather than live an insensitive lifelike that of a stone the child would like to be aborted. I might only appear to speak. Rehearse me in all these roles. Provide me with enough strength. 0 God. Forgive me for the evil thoughts the world will put into my mind. the child prays to God imploring Him to protect. Frightened by this terrible prospect. birds. for the thoughts of treason which traitors who are beyond me might plant in my mind. The child is presumably in the last stage of foetal growth and it is knowledgeable about the world and its ways. I may suffer social isolation to such an extent that beggars may refuse the alms I give. Stanza one mentions the various childhood fears of a child such as bats. " Let them not destroy my sensitivity and harden me till I become like stone. I am not yet born. forgive and teach him. how I should conduct myself on such occasions. The child prays to God in stanzas one and six asking Him to protect him from various things and creatures of evil. 0 God. the child is aware. The world was indeed passing through a . the world appeared to be at its darkest to the poet. Here the speaker looks at the world from the point of view of . Forgive me. Teach me how I should react when old people criticize me for what they consider my lapses. 0 God.an unborn child. He then seeks in advance forgiveness of God for these sins. are fast disappearing from the earth. Mountains may look frowningly at me accusing me of environmental destruction. Stanza five implores God to rehearse the roles he will have to play later in life so that he may prove equal to the challenges life may place before him. treason. He will not be able to withstand the pressure of organized groups. Aid me in my effort to resist those who would cause the wholeness of my personality to disintegrate.poem refers to all these social evils. It is going to be quite a struggle for me to keep the open independence of my soul. Teach me the proper cues. I know I will have to play many roles on the stage of life. In the next stanza he mentions the sins of modern life which. weasels and ghouls. CRITICAL APPRECIATION . These things. Bureaucrats may coerce me into toeing the official line in everything. I seek your help to oppose those who. open skies and greenery. he will be obliged to commit once he is on earth.particularly dark phase at the time when MacNeice wrote this poem. would blow me here and there like thistledown. Tile child trembles at the thought of having to spend a lifetime in the world. The white waves of the ocean may put thoughts of selfslaughter in my mind. It was a world entirely at the mercy of dictators. Let them not spill me like water either. Stanza six seeks protection from beast-like men and ruthless dictators who think they are God. I may come to grief by responding to the call of the desert spurred by my desire for adventure. 0 God! do not allow such men-to come near me. I am not yet born. My own children may turn against me and shower me with curses. Teach me. It was a world of fratricidal wars. With the Second World War raging in Europe and elsewhere. so that I can fight back when they standardize human beings into look-alike robots having the same kind of face. it might be the world speaking through me. violence. Forgive me for my death if I waste my life to keep some autocrat in power. I am yet to be born. This theme is carried on to stanza seven where the child prays for the strength to withstand the dehumanizing ways of the modern world. 0 God. Fill me with strength so that I may resist those who would bully me into becoming a deadly war machine or a cog thereof. asking Him to provide him with such things as clean air and water. One thing distinguishes "Prayer Before Birth" from all other poems – that is the unusual perspective the poem adopts. . In stanza two the child prays to God. Forgive my life if I allow the world to commit murders using my hands. Similarly. My life is far too precious to be spilt like water held in the hand.offend anyone. rats. Lovers may laugh at me for not seeing the world as they see it. he knows. not recognizing my worth. MacNeice's . There are men who-are in fact animals and there are also men who think they are God. besides being a satire that if the world cannot provide a healthy atmosphere then children should not be brought forth into the world. trying to make the world of parenting aware of its duties. what makes the poem interesting is the way the poet has expressed his ideas.water pure and clear. with birds and trees and heavenly bodies . There is close correlation between what the poet says and how he says it. The word 'me' appears at the end of the first line and the last line in every stanza. while assonance results from the repetition of vowel sounds. Hence the poem will always remain evergreen for projecting thoughts in a very unorthodox way and baring the truths that are often concealed under modem ways of life. 'tall' and 'wall' in line 5. Through it. In addition to this. 'a cog in a machine' or 'a stone' or 'spilled water'? On the other hand. the needs of children are universal. "Prayer Before Birth" is one of the finest poems of MacNeice. The prayer that the unborn child offers. It has been put forth in the form of a worried plea from the perspective of an unborn child. The poem flows freely like free verse and yet it is not without the discipline of metre.The catalogue of the world's ills may not be interesting in itself. These needs will always remain the same. It is highlighting the duties of parenting and exposing those areas where a child needs extra care and protection. The expression "wise lies' is an example of both alliteration and assonance. Who wants to be a 'lethal automaton'. The poet successfully uses several decorative and functional .and the blessing of God. are causes of major concern of the present (twenty-first) century. the rise of crime and fraud. This corresponds to the child's desire to be free and yet be guided by God's white light. free from the threats of terror that surround human life today. This is an appeal too. 'Bat' and 'rat' in line one. It is a period piece in thaf what he portrays is the mirror image of Europe during the Second World War CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE 'A Prayer Before Birth' is a satire on the life of the so-called modem twentieth century. MacNeice's lines are rich in alliteration and assonance. Truly unconventional both in thought and in style. The poem quite frankly makes the unborn child express its fears. The paralleling of the two stanzas serves to unify the poem. The stanzas increase in length generally from the first stanza to the last and this may be taken as symbolic of the growing complexities of the child's feeling. MacNeice is an Irish poet and he belongs to the twentieth century. the poet appeals for a worthwhile and wholesome natural life. . green grass and a healthy natural environment.and grow up as upright human beings. ask for a careful hearing. . especially delinquency. All children of all times hope to live and lead a fulfilled life . It begs to be rehearsed in the part it must play on the stage of life and how it must attend to its cues. and then to be forgiven its sins. These two stanzas are alike in structure and theme. the poet uses internal rhyme in several places. It is a plea to be consoled and well provided for. but the fears he expresses are universal and will always remain so. Alliteration appears in the repetition of consonants. In addition to end rhyme.devices to increase the enjoyability of the poem. This is seen even in the verse form the poem uses. Take for example the way the poet uses rhyme. In a sense stanza six 'rhymes' with the first stanza. the dominant metrical form being the dactylic (containing a metrical foot of one long and two short syllables). are among the many examples of internal rhyme.