'Prayer Before Birth' By Louis MacNeice

 

 

    Isn't this title an alarming one ? ! Not only the  title but whole poem raises the question on humanity itself.  The titled poem was written by Louis MacNiece in the year 1944. He was a poet, playwright and the member called Auden Group of poets. The group focused on 'social poetry' which stamped them as a social poets.

       The central theme of the poem debunks the idea of military and the war. The poet sends this message through the persona of an unborn child's prayer. That how the violence has destroyed the humanity. Which can be saved by sharing love and care for each other. Not only brutality,  but corruption has made human beings sick. Here this poem tries to awaken human feelings for each other before they become destructive spirits.  

I am not yet born; O hear me.  

 Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the 

           club - footed ghoul come near me.

     The very first stanza speaks about the child's imagination. Which is full of horrors. The unborn child indicates that even unborn children are being corrupted by humans in their visualization.  To show that fear,  unborn chiild compares human being with the insects called bat, rat, stoat and club footed ghoul.  

I am not yet born, console me.  

I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me, 

with strong drugs dope me,  with wise lies lure me, 

on black racks rack me, in blood- baths roll me.  

    In the next stanza, the child asks for the sympathy from the human beings. Because the child is aware about the cruelty committed by the humans. Here the word 'Wall' creates the feelings of dictatorship and claustrophobia. Not only that, the unborn child warns us of drugs which can be dangerous for all of us. These savage attributes makes child dejected for upcoming life. 

I am not yet born; provide me 

With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk to me, sky to sing me, birds and a white light in the back of my mind to guide me.  

  The stanza three includes the optimistic view of life. Here, child desires the natural elements to be a guide in his/ her path. First, it asks for the sympathy, particularly through cuddling. We know that human beings are social animals and it always remains in the search of some company.  For a baby,  these Trees, Grass,  Sky and birds are the soulmates for the rest of his/ her life.   Because these are the persons ( All natural elements personified in this stanza ) who have been a guide to him/ her throughout the life. The nature shows the humanly feelings rather than the humans themselves. The poet denounces the cruel world of humans.

I am not yet born; Forgive me 

For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, my treason engendered by traitors beyond me, my life when they murder by means of my hands, my death when they live me.  

 We know that it is the monologue written from the perspective of an unborn child. The child is aware about the worldly things where to be aloof from these manipulatory threats is a difficult thing. Therefore,  it asks to pardon him/her-self before committing any crime. According to the child, the malpractice, corruption, is as same as the traitorhood. These words expresses the fear of becoming corrupted like everyone else on earth.  

I am not yet born; rehearse me 

In the parts I must play and the cues I must take when old men lecture me,  bureaucrats hector me,  mountains frown at me, lovers laugh at me,  the white waves call me to folly and the desert calls me to doom and the beggar refuses my gift and my children curse me. 

  The stanza five speaks about the adulthood of an unborn child. Now, the  child has faced many gruesome experiences of a real life. The child is ready to follow the path suggested by the old men. Furthermore, it seems that the child has become the puppet of a bureaucrat. Which suuggest that, the innocence is not anymore with the unborn child.  In addition, even mountains are not happy with the child due to its inhuman decisions. Nobody is happy with the (adult) child, for instance, lovers laugh at him, the white waves, that is the ocean,  which stands for peace, but here,  the waves also considers an adult child a folly. Still the pang is not going away from the child as desert declares the final dooms on the child.  So far these natural elements have cursed the adult, even beggars are not taking the gifts from him. But things became worst when his/ her own children curse the man. ( The unborn child who thinks of his future.) We can say that the child is now all alone in this cruel world.  

I am not yet born; O hear me, 

Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God come near me.  

   After becoming alone in this world,  it becomes difficult to survive.  But the child knows the living beast within the human being and its looming danger. For that,  the child openly tells that he/she doesn't want to be near with the violent men. It criticises the hypocrisy of the preachers. Who acts like a God but actually they are not. Who just takes the advantage of the person' s position for the own selfish reasons.    

I am not yet born; O fill me 

With strength against those who would freeze my humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automation, would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with one face,  a thing, and against all those who would dissipate my entirely, would blow me like thistledown hither and thither or hither and thither like water held in the hands would spill me 

Let them not take me a stone and let them not spill me.  

Otherwise kill me.  

 As we proceed to the end of the poem, In  the last stanza the unborn child prays for the inner strength. The child openly admits that why he/ she requires the strength. Because people may freeze his humanity. Which represents the insensitive nature of a men. The next sentence represents the machinery world of contemporary era.  Where humans are being treated like a machine. For that poet here provides the metaphor of 'a cog in a machine.' Ultimately,  the child has now lost his own identity and wants be careful from this dissipate people. At the last the unborn child says that these people will blow him away like a  thistle and then he/ she no longer be the part of this humanly world.  

      However,  the child admits that he doesn't want to be a  stone hearted person like others. (Here the background may focuses on the life of a soldier)  And if, it happens then the unborn child is ready to die before coming out into the world. Eventually, the whole poem is an appeal, a prayer, (by a baby who is still in a womb), for the liberty and a rebel against the despotism. The tone of the poem is quite depressing.  Because the WAR is just a small word but its consequences are always gigantic one.  Not only that, it halts the progress of a nation.  The epitome of the poem is, only mankind can save an  innocent child and for that  the innocent child asks for a courage and willpower.  

•Context : Time of World War 2.  It was a time of fear for the survival of human beings.  

•Tone : The tone is full of pessimism.  There's constant menace of the future.  The poem has an apocalyptic or nightmarish sense. It represents the despondency, tribulation and the forthcoming disaster caused by the violence.  

• Form and Structure : The form of the poem is a dramatic monologue spoken by an unborn child.  Which is quite abstract.  

• Themse : 

1. The Cruel World 

2. Violence and Human Beings

3. Liberty and Despotism 

4. Bureaucracy and Corruption 

5. Dying emotion 

6. Wise or Destructive nature of machines

• Personification : 

1. Water 

2. Grass 

3. Trees 

4. Sky 

5. White light 

6. Mountains

7. White Waves 

8. Desert 

• Repetition : ' I am not yet born.' ( It works like an incantation, of a prayer.  ) 

• Alliteration :

~ Blood - Sucking bat 

~ drugs dope 

~ lies lure 

~ blood baths 

• Irony : 

~ Waves are white ( It represents the peace but here it leads towards the evils.) 

• Metaphor : 

~ 'Cog in a machine.'  

( Further Reading : Prayer Before Birth. ) 

  Click on it.  

          Our true prayer is to reflect on what we have learnt so far. Your task is to appear in the Quiz and to compete the Thinking Activity. Here it is suggested to go through this blog before starting your both tasks.  Remember one thing,  reflective learning is our strength.....

• Quiz. ( Click On It.)  

• Thinking Activity.  

1. Justify your understanding of the poem Prayer Before Birth.  

2. Why does the unborn child plea for a strength?  ( You can take help of stanza 7)  

3. What is the role of natural elements in this poem? 

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