Louis MacNeice: 'Prayer Before Birth'

Overview

• Louis MacNeice was an Irish poet and playwright (1907-1963).
• MacNeice's father was a Protestant minister and later a bishop of the Anglican Church of Ireland.
• He attended Oxford University, met W.H. Auden, and began publishing poetry as an undergraduate.
• MacNeice was part of the Auden Group of poets in the 1930s, including W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Cecil Day-Lewis.
• He received critical acclaim during his lifetime.
• MacNeice worked for the BBC during World War II, creating radio programs to support Britain's allies.
• His poetry emphasizes human kindness in the face of totalitarian regimes and the significance of Ireland.
• MacNeice believed that poetry must be honest above all else.

Background

• The poem was written at the end of World War II, in 1944, after prolonged bombing in London.
• It reflects the nation's fear for the future.

Summary

• The poem is a dramatic monologue spoken by an unborn foetus pleading for kindness and protection from mistreatment.
• The foetus would rather be killed before birth if its well-being cannot be guaranteed.

Analysis

• The poem is a dramatic monologue from the perspective of an unborn child.
• The unspecified sex of the child makes the poem universal and relatable.
• The title "Prayer Before Birth" suggests the foetus's need for help even in the womb, indicating a terrifying and brutal world.
• The poem uses religious diction ironically, as there seems to be no moral force to pray to.
• The free verse structure, with no set rhyme or rhythm, mirrors the randomness and brutality the baby fears in the world.
• The ragged edges of the stanzas visually represent the violence of the universe the child is about to enter.
• The frequent use of personal pronouns, especially "I" and "me," emphasizes the child's individual voice and intense anxiety.
• The opening line, "O hear me," is an imperative expressing the speaker's urgent anxiety and instruction to be heard.
• The voice continues throughout the poem without receiving an answer, suggesting that God may not listen or exist, and humanity may not care.
• Phrases like "Let not" echo Old Testament grammar, emphasizing the seriousness of the child's appeal.
• The baby wants to be protected from the 'bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the club-footed ghoul'.
• The repetition of "or the" creates anxiety and a sense of excess, while alliteration ("bloodsucking bat") and assonance ("bat," "rat," "stoat") add pace to the list.
• The fears of vampire bats and monsters symbolize traditional horror, but mankind proves to be even more horrific.
• The refrain "I am not yet born" at the start of most stanzas provides structure and suggests that no one is listening.
• In the second stanza, the foetus asks for comfort ("console me"), implying babies are not always supported.
• The baby fears humans will "wall me," "dope me," "lure me," and "roll me," emphasizing the cruelties of oppression, addiction, manipulation, and torture.
• The "black racks" and "blood baths" depict a terrible vision of man's inhumanity.
• In stanza three, the baby wants personified natural elements like water ("to dandle me") and sky ("to sing to me").
• Nature is portrayed as more maternal and kind than humans, highlighting humanity's disconnection from the natural world.
• The "white light" may represent a moral sense that the child feels they cannot learn from humans.
• In stanza four, the child begs "forgive me," anticipating inevitable cruel and sinful actions simply from being human.
• The repetition of "they" suggests a faceless authority that coerces men to do evil.
• In stanza five, the child asks to "rehearse me," suggesting that life requires playing roles and being dishonest.
• The baby realizes they must learn to respond to various people who will turn against him in an unfriendly universe where "lovers laugh at me" and "my children curse me".
• Stanza six shows a deterioration of the verse form, reflecting the breakdown of society or increasing terror.
• With repetition the child says that man "is beast" and "thinks he is God," pointing to a brutal society lacking moral guidance.
• The baby pleads to prevent man from coming "near me," despising mankind despite soon being part of it.
• In stanza seven, the baby begs for "strength" to avoid dehumanization, fearing becoming a "lethal automaton" or "a cog in a machine.'
• The robot metaphor indicates a loss of free will and exploitation.
• The repetition of "thing" shows the fear of becoming non-human.
• The similes "like thistledown" and "like water" illustrate the fear of being treated carelessly and losing individuality.
• The final stanza consists of two separate sentences, creating a sense of climax.
• The child uses Biblical grammar again ("Let them not"), appealing to an unresponsive listener.
• The metaphors of being made "a stone" (hardening of emotion) and having one's self "spilled" (careless misuse) illustrate the fear of being misused without compassion.
• The incomplete sentence "Otherwise kill me" makes the ending abrupt and anxious, offering death as an alternative to a horrific existence.
• The poem leaves the reader with a powerful image of new life rejecting the modern world, and choosing non-existence over life within it.