W. B. Yeats’ A Prayer for My Daughter: Theme, Summary and Critical analysis
W.
B. Yeats’ A Prayer for My Daughter: theme, summary and critical analysis
W. B. Yeats' "A Prayer for My Daughter" (1921) is intensely a personal poem in which the poet expresses his deep concern for his beloved daughter, Anne, and dreams for his daughter's convincing future in his poem. This poem speaks about the anxiety shared by all fathers all over the world felt for the well-being of their daughters. Yeats visualizes a secured future for his daughter in the face of a chaotic and uncertain modern world. The poem is actually a prayer-like poem whereas the poet is more optimistic that his daughter will be able to encounter the harsh reality through the cultivation of good manners and courtesy. A study of the theme, summary and critical analysis of W. B. Yeats’ “A Prayer for My Daughter” finds the poet’s focus on customs and cultures rather than the physical beauty to rescue individual soul to survive in a world of growing disorder and misery, whereas feminine innocence is celebrated. Now let’s move to the full analysis of A Prayer for My Daughter.
Apprehension for uncertain future:
In
the beginning of the poem, A Prayer for My Daughter, the poet is skeptical for
the better future of his daughter in the war-ravaged society just after the
First World War and during Irish movement. The poet draws the imagery of the
nature that the blazing storm is razing outside. Nature actually symbolizes the
storm in the poet's mind. He introduces his daughter Anne who is sleeping in
the cradle. "Storm is howling” outside “and roof
levelling wind" is blowing from the Atlantic. So the poet
apprehends how his daughter will face the coarse and turbulent situation of the
modern world. That's why he prays-
"And for an hour I have walked and prayed Because of the great gloom that is in my mind."
The
poet is shaken to dream a terrible future for his daughter when she will grow
up. The future uncertainty is depicted through the ‘wind scream’ and ‘frenzied
drum’. The poet says that "dancing to a frenzied drum / out of the
murderous innocence of the sea". The stormy world and human
violence will chase her as opponent forces. The imagery of nature actually
reflects the unrest political situation during the Irish Movement in his own
country and the First World War, and as well a reflection of poet's love in which
passion is separated from reason.
Gift of beauty/ physical beauty is not worshiped:
The
poet solicits that her daughter should be endowed with some certain good
qualities to protect herself as a shield. The shield should be the good
qualities and virtues. He desires her to be virtuous and good. She must be
possessed with the gift of beauty which will not distract others. The poet
utters again:
“May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught”
She
should have beauty not vanity. She must be devoid of self-conceit and contented
with her own physical attractiveness like Narcissus, an extremely handsome boy,
fell in love with his own image reflected in the water of well. Yeats' daughter
must be pretty in order to secure a good husband. He doesn't aspire for a proud
daughter who doesn't have any friend and staring at her beauty all day in the
mirror. Too much obsession with beauty is a dangerous thing for the women.
Lack
of true friends/ separation of passion from reason:
However,
the poet opines that the beautiful women forget their natural kindness and
losses their reason to accept a sincere love. Thus, they fail to have an
appropriate life partner and hence they remain unsatisfied. So, the poet
remarks:
"The heart revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend."
Then
the poet refers to Helen, a Greek mythological character. Despite having the
most enchanting beauty, she commits a great mistake as she eloped with a
"fool", Paris, the prince of Troy, and this ultimately leads to the
way of a catastrophic destruction to the city of Troy. Aphrodite, the Greek
goddess of beauty, also commits the same mistake being united with Hephaestus.
He was a lame god who built the shield of Achilles. Here, the poet expresses
his embittered feelings towards his beloved Maud Gonne who gets married with a
fool, Mac Bride. As a consequence, their married life remains unhappy. She
rejects Yeats' love proposal several times and remains unreciprocated.
Horn of Plenty:
The
poet says that beautiful women are too proud and foolish, and therefore they
suffer and lead a miserable life. Again, Yeats alludes the "horn of
plenty". In mythology, Amalthia, a nourishing goddess (in the form a
goat), used to feed Jeus with her breast. But somehow her horn was broken and
nectar or abundant nourishment began to flow from the horn. So, figuratively,
it indicates that excessive beauty may lead someone to astray. One must not
succumb to his own beauty as it may cause dire trouble for them. It is
mentioned that---
"A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the horn of plenty is undone."
Cultivation of good qualities:
In
the stanza five, the poet prays for his daughter that she must have something
more than the bewitching beauty. He holds a firm belief that the virtue of
courtesy can win the heart of others without having a splendid beauty.
Similarly, Maud Gonne has a stunning beauty and Yeats is too foolish to believe
that she loves him as well. Later he realizes his mistake and perceives that it
is the courtesy, not the beauty, can win people's heart. So, he wishes
that her daughter should cultivate good qualities and good heartedness to win
other's heart. The poet comments:
"In courtesy I'd have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned"
Yeats
finds such goodness in his wife George Hyde Lee.
Emphasis on feminine innocence:
In
stanza 6, the poet cherishes that his daughter will be ‘a flourishing tree’ and
must be accomplished with good virtues. Her delicate qualities should remain
unchangeable like the ‘Laurel trees’. Ingeniousness and open heartedness will
help her to identify love in proper manner and to contain her happiness in a
particular place. It seems that---
"O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place."
Like the ‘linnets’ her life should be clustered around happy and pure thoughts. Symbolically, they demonstrate that innocence and happiness make others happy too.
Then
the poet goes on saying about his own mind and heart. Looking into his heart,
he discovers hatred that has come owing to the experience of life and the sort
of beauty that he has loved. So, he hopes her daughter to be away from such
evils. If the soul is free from hatred, nothing can ruin one's happiness and
innocence. If there is no slight accommodation of hatred in our mind, it will
become the repository of Innocence.
Intellectual Hatred:
The
poet argues that "an intellectual hatred is the worst kind of
hatred." Here he praises Maud Gonne as well as castigates her ‘opinionated
mind’. She has revolutionary spirit and can upsurge the commotion of people.
But she dislikes the aristocracy which cultivates the courtesy and noble
attitude. He expects that her daughter will shun away intellectual hatred to
have inner peace within her soul and to face the hardships and misfortunes. She
needs to "recover radical innocence" to be more temperate. For
example, an ideal woman makes everyone happy and comfortable even though she is
broken inside due to misfortunes. They are anchors of happiness and need not to
be worried if the world ‘scowls’ or looks at her suspiciously. Thus, any kind
of hatred should be gone from her mind.
Glorification of culture and customs:
Finally,
the poet concludes his prayer with a final wish that her daughter should get
married with a good husband from an aristocratic family who celebrates
traditional manners and courtesies. Hatred and arrogance will have no place in
that family. They consider morality and purity above all things. According to the
poet, Beauty and Innocence come from the established traditions. So, the poet’s
love for traditional aristocratic values is reflected in this stanza. She
suggests her daughter to follow traditional norms and values.
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