A
PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER
W.B.Yeats
W.B.Yeats
occupies a prominent position in the literature of the 20th century.
His genius is so independent and unique that it cannot be identified with any
particular school of poetry. He was
attracted by Irish mythology and folk-lore which he poetized in a remarkably
mystic and symbolic way. As a symbolist, he stands foremost among the modern
poets experimenting with new and hitherto unused symbols.
A Prayer for My Daughter is a simple
poem of W.B.Yeats which discusses the qualities required by girls in the modern
world. The backdrop of the poem is very interesting. In 1889, W.B.Yeats met
Maud Gonne, a beautiful and an uncompromising Irish nationalist. He fell
headlong in love with her. However, she rejected his love and married a old
drunkard, John Mac Bride. This had left an indelible scar in Yeats. He started
developing poor opinions about all beautiful women. He wrote this poem
immediately after the birth of his first daughter, Anne Butler. In this poem, Yeats
prays to god to grant his daughter beauty but not extraordinary beauty because the
beautiful women are devoid of kindness and courtesy.
The
poem opens with the image of his child sleeping innocently in a cradle through
a howling storm. The poet is gloomy and the problem before him is how to
protect his daughter from the dangers of the world. He prays for his daughter
and is worried about her future. He prays that she may be granted beauty but
not as beautiful as Helen of Troy or the Greek goddess, Venus. In his opinion,
the beautiful women attract every one and make people run mad after them. They
fall in love with themselves and become proud. They are also incapable of
taking right decisions. The poet thinks that beautiful women are silly so that
their happiness suffers.
The
poet wants his daughter to learn courtesy.
He considers that courtesy, wisdom and the glad kindness are the
permanent assets of women. But many people who are crazy after beauty in their
early life realize that love and wisdom are the real riches in their later
life. The poet prays for the daughter
that her thought may be like the song bird.
She should be magnanimous and kind and should play and quarrel in
merriment.
Then
the poet wants his daughter to be free from hatred. He thinks that hatred is the chief evil.
Harmony can prevail only if there is no hatred. The poet says that the worst
hatred is intellectual hatred. He has seen the fate of a most beautiful woman
belonging to a well-to-do family (Maud Gonne). Because of her strong opinions
about herself, she lost her prosperity and all her good qualities. He wants his
daughter to have innocence. She can
learn that innocence is self-delighting, self-appeasing and self-affrighting.
In
the last stanza, the poet-father prays that she be married to a good
bride-groom who should take her to a well-appointed home where life is
aristocratically ceremonious. Neither arrogance nor hatred should be seen in
that home. The poet is worried, but he has hopes for the bright future of his
daughter.
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