Prayer Before Birth Flashcards
Prayer Before Birth (title)
Unborn child anticipating the life ahead, indicates that the poem may be about the writer’s idea of life shown through the foetus who sees humanity from an outsider’s perspective
I am not yet born; O hear me
Speaker is pleading with an unknown entity - could be God or humanity itself
(Repeat of)
I am not yet born
Forms a refrain throughout - continually reminds reader that the speaker is vulnerable, and seeing life from a different view than the reader
Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the
Club footed ghoul come near me
Listing of childlike fears, echoing the stereotypical child’s nightmare - shows the speaker’s childlike innocence, also a reminder of their vulnerability
I am not yet born, console me.
Highlights the helplessness of the speaker - only asks for consolation as it cannot act against these things - could emphasise how a child has no control, or how an individual has little control over humanity as a whole (and the evil in the world)
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.
Tone changes as speaker moves from childish fears to ones more serious and rooted in reality - allusions to imprisonment, drugging, deception, torture and mass murder
Polyptoton (e.g. “tall walls wall”) to emphasise the idea of horrible things happening
Repetition of “k” sound in last line - gives line a more harsh tone, further enhancing the seriousness of the fears
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
Speaker is more hopeful/positive that nature can protect them and allow them to thrive
Personification (trees and sky) - highlights the speaker’s feeling that true protection lies with nature and not the destructive human race
“White light… to guide me” - suggests speaker’s desire to be led by goodness and purity (as those are the connotations of light)
I am not yet born; forgive me
For the sins that in me the world shall commit
Asking for forgiveness suggests speaker is sure that they will sin (can’t have yet as not born) - implies sinning is inevitable in today’s society
“World shall commit” - adds to idea of inevitable sin by suggesting the “world” will use the speaker to sin, giving responsibility for the speaker’s sin to humanity as a whole and society
My words when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me… my life when they murder by means of my hands, my death when they live me
Contrast of “they” and “me” - suggests an external force, the society we are born into conditions us to behave in a certain way, so the speaker will be forced by society into a set path - emphasises the helplessness of the speaker against the society they are born into
I am not yet born; rehearse me
In the parts I must play and the cues I must take
Repeats and emphasises the idea that the speaker has no control and must act a certain way to societal pressures - introduces idea that there are preset things the speaker has to do and that their entire life will just be them pretending (perhaps to be someone else, as you do in a play)
Mountains frown at me… white waves call me to folly, and the desert calls me to doom
Alliteration (“white waves” and “desert… doom”) - to emphasise the phrases (and by extension the overall idea that is presented)
Personification of nature, like in the earlier stanza - but this time it creates negative images, contrasting to the previous idyllic ones involving nature
I am not yet born; O hear me,
Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God
Come near me.
Referring to tyrants and dictators (“man who thinks he is God” could refer to Hitler)
Same rhyme (“hear me… near me”) and first line as first stanza - tying them together, re-emphasising the speaker’s desire to stay away from evil things, but now the evil is much more dangerous than the originally mentioned childish fears
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.
“Lethal automaton… cog in a machine” - references recent (at the time) advancements in technology and industrialisation - speaker doesn’t want to lose their individuality and free will
“Blow me like thistledown… like water held in the hands” - similes - emphasises the fear of being corrupted and losing themself
Repetition of “a thing” - emphasises the speaker’s fear of being dehumanised
Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me
Otherwise kill me.
Rhyming couplet - doesn’t use the refrain from all of the previous stanzas - change in rhythm adds a sense of abruptness to the stanza
“Otherwise kill me” - drastic measure, death would be better than a life of dehumanisation
“Let them not spill me” - metaphor - speaker’s need to not be spilled references their fear of losing their identity and humanity
Final stanza - implies this fear is more significant than all the other ones, suggests keeping your humanity and free will is the main goal (you can survive everything else except that)
Structure
Frequent use of enjambment - reflects the speakers panic/fear as pace is quickened by enjambment, and also the erratic nature of life
Layout of poem with indented sentences - visually looks like a litany or prayer (emphasises the pleading nature of poem) - may also convey how the speaker wants to retreat into the safety of the womb, away from external dangers
Every stanza is a rhyming couplet ending in “me” - reflects a desire to not be overpowered by external forces
Dramatic monologue - powerfully conveys the speakers feelings
Repeated pleas - reminds reader that speaker has no control, could suggest that individuals have no control and are controlled by society and humanity as a whole
Important context
The poem was written in London during WW2, which may help explain the cynical view of humanity and the state of the world
