Prayer Before Birth /Louis Macneice
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.
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.
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 to me, birds and a white light
in the back of my mind to guide me.
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.
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.
I am not yet born; O hear me,
Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God
come near me.
I am not yet born; O fill me
With strength against those who would freeze my
humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton,
would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with
one face, a thing, and against all those
who would dissipate my entirety, would
blow me like thistledown hither and
thither or hither and thither
like water held in the
hands would spill me.
Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.
Otherwise kill me.
Louis MacNeice
Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the
club-footed ghoul come near me.
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.
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 to me, birds and a white light
in the back of my mind to guide me.
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.
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.
I am not yet born; O hear me,
Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God
come near me.
I am not yet born; O fill me
humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton,
would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with
one face, a thing, and against all those
who would dissipate my entirety, would
blow me like thistledown hither and
thither or hither and thither
like water held in the
hands would spill me.
Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.
Otherwise kill me.
Louis MacNeice was born on September 12, 1907,
in Belfast, Ireland. Educated at Merton College, Oxford. He worked as a
lecturer in classics at Birmingham University from 1930 to 1936, and was a
lecturer for women from 1936 to 1939. During the first year of World War II
(1939) he was a lecturer at Cornell University in the United States. Before his
death, in London, he travelled a lot abroad in France, Norway, Italy, and
India.
His favorite was
Tolstoy's War and Peace. MacNeice
himself wrote three novels in his youth. He published his first poetic
collection, Blind Fireworks, in
1929.
He is concerned
about the society. He is not happy with
the political atmosphere in which MacNeice distrusted the ruling parties; in
economics, he predicted the inevitable fall of capitalism.
His later works
included The Roman Smile, a book of
literary criticism. In addition to his
own publications, MacNeice contributed articles to several anthologies of
literary criticism. Most of his work was published in the United States.
MacNeice was
made C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in 1957. He died on September 3,
1964, from viral pneumonia.
Short summary
Stanza 1
The
poet says that the baby cries and requests that he needs protection against the
evil spirits and disease. When he says
about bad, rat and stoat he refers to the diseases they would spread. They are deadly dangerous animals which could
cause death. Blood sucking bat refers to
vampire. It is a belief which sounds
superstitious. It shows the baby’s fear
of the world he is going to live. It is
one of the most dangerous place and he needs protection against it and the cry
creates sympathy.
Stanza 2
“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 this stanza the poet expresses the help and support needed by
the unborn child. There is a fear in the
child’s mind that being walled in dug, lied and being lied with all fake news,
tortured on a rack and shedding blood in the battle on in streets. Shedding
blood and disgrace death are the fears enough for the innocent child to ask protection
against human race.
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
“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”
This stanza consist of six lines and expresses religious
thoughts. The speaker confesses his sin
and accepts the karma which is punishing them now. He asks forgiveness for the sin. Forgiveness is needed for all which could
give a divine and acknowledgment of life.
The unborn child is so fearful of future evil. There are dangers around
the baby by the traitors. He has to be
watchful to escape from the evil.
Stanza 5
“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”
The baby is
not yet born. But he is leaning his part
that he is going to play, for all humans are actors playing different parts in
life. It is a mini play which has been
given to all. The characters I
have to change into when old men lecture him, bureaucrats command him and
mountains frown at him (it could refer mountain, a part of nature could get
angry and there can be a natural disaster)
from lovers to beggars even the unborn ones could be a curse.
Stanza 6
This stanza is another prayer from the child
who still lives in fear and makes the request that he would like to be far away
from any human who could behave as a beast to corrupt the society. Also the baby doesn’t want to be with a man
who thinks he is “god” these two different personalities a just opposite of
each other. One live like beast with
all greediness and temptation and the other in the name of God would cheat
himself as well others. The speaker
wants nothing to do with both. He wants
a tranquil life.
Stanza 7
With strength against those who would freeze my
humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton”
This stanza is quite a lengthy one. In this stanza, the speaker prays
to god to protect him from the evil world which forces him to do that could
kill his peace. He pleads god to give
him strength to fight against those who would freeze his human qualities. He fears that they would drag him into an
automated mechanical life. He does not
want to become a cog in a machine. As he
hates war he does not want to become a part of the war to kill the innocents.
He wants life with sharing mercy and affection.
The speaker does not want to become a robot, a killer machine.
Stanza 8
In this final stanza, the speaker again asks for
protection. He does not want to be
killed by his enemy. In each stanza the
speaker brings out the challenges of a child and requests protection from the
evil atmosphere. The baby wants to live
a pure life in pure world free from all evil thoughts. They expressions are
ironic to imagine a new born pleading to god to save him from all the evils of
the world. The readers could feel the
agony of the poet for his thoughts make the readers to realize the challenges
of life. The poem ends with the harsh
truth is it is better not be born than to suffer as a beast.
Literary Devices
Prayer Before Birth is a great work with unusual and admirable
structure, diction (language) and resonance.
The syntax contracts and expands, Capital letters start a line, lower case then moves with rhythm; long, sentences make up a stanza, a short statements finishes it
Religious allusion occurs: In stanza four the speaker refers sins and forgiveness, and pictures the child to be a Christ figure who is ready for sacrifice.
Prayer Before Birth is a free verse poem of 8 stanzas, 39 lines in total. There is no particular rhyme scheme, and no regular metric patterns.
Stanza 1: bloodsucking bat
Anaphora
thank you....
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