"Prayer Before Birth" is a poem by the Anglo-Irish poet Louis MacNeice, written during World War II and first published in MacNeice's 1944 collection Springboard. The speaker, an unborn child, prays for future guidance and protection from the horrors of the modern world, and possesses great foresight about humankind's capacity for self-destruction and violence. The speaker ultimately insists that, if this prayer cannot be answered, the speaker would rather not be born at all. The poem is thus a damning condemnation of the state humanity found itself in around the middle of the 20th century.

• Read the full text of “Prayer Before Birth”

• “Prayer Before Birth” Summary

• “Prayer Before Birth” Themes

  • 

    The Corruption of Humanity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-39
  • 

    Nature vs. Industrialization

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-11
    • Lines 20-23
    • Lines 28-37
  • 

    Modernity, Conformity, and Free Will

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-7
    • Lines 12-24
    • Lines 28-37

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Prayer Before Birth”

  • Lines 1-3

    I am not ...
    ... come near me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-7

    I am not ...
    ... blood-baths roll me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-11

    I am not ...
    ... to guide me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-17

    I am not ...
    ... they live me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-24

    I am not ...
    ... children curse me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-27

    I am not ...
    ... come near me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-32

    I am not ...
    ... face, a thing,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 32-37

    and against all ...
    ... would spill me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 38-39

    Let them not ...
    ... Otherwise kill me.

    

    

    

    

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• “Prayer Before Birth” Symbols

  • 

    Nature

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-11: “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.”
    • Lines 21-23: “the white / waves call me to folly and the desert calls / me to doom”
    • Lines 33-37: “would / blow me like thistledown hither and / thither or hither and thither / like water held in the / hands would spill me.”
    • Line 38: “Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.”
  • 

    Machinery

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 30-31: “would dragoon me into a lethal automaton, / would make me a cog in a machine,”

• “Prayer Before Birth” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “bloodsucking bat”
    • Line 5: “walls wall”
    • Line 6: “drugs dope,” “with wise lies lure”
    • Line 7: “black racks rack,” “blood-baths roll”
    • Line 9: “With water,” “grass to grow”
    • Lines 9-10: “trees to talk / to”
    • Line 10: “sky to sing”
    • Line 11: “my mind”
    • Line 14: “thoughts,” “they think”
    • Line 15: “treason,” “traitors”
    • Line 16: “my,” “murder by mean,” “s,” “my”
    • Line 17: “my”
    • Line 19: “parts,” “play”
    • Line 20: “men,” “me,” “me, mountains”
    • Line 21: “lovers laugh”
    • Lines 21-22: “white / waves”
    • Line 22: “desert”
    • Line 23: “doom”
    • Line 36: “held”
    • Line 37: “hands”
    • Line 38: “stone,” “spill”

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-39

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “bloodsucking,” “bat,” “rat”
    • Line 5: “race may,” “tall walls wall”
    • Line 6: “wise lies”
    • Line 7: “black racks rack,” “baths”
    • Line 9: “ me, trees”
    • Line 10: “white light”
    • Line 11: “my mind,” “guide”
    • Line 12: “forgive”
    • Line 13: “sins,” “in,” “commit”
    • Line 14: “speak,” “me”
    • Line 16: “my life”
    • Line 17: “death when”
    • Line 19: “parts,” “play,” “take”
    • Line 20: “men lecture,” “hector me”
    • Lines 20-21: “mountains / frown”
    • Line 22: “call me to folly”
    • Lines 22-23: “calls / me to doom”
    • Line 23: “refuses”
    • Line 26: “beast,” “he”
    • Line 29: “freeze”
    • Line 30: “humanity,” “me,” “lethal”
    • Line 31: “machine”
    • Line 33: “my entirety”
    • Line 34: “thistledown hither”
    • Line 35: “thither,” “hither,” “thither”
    • Line 37: “spill”
    • Line 38: “Let them,” “let them,” “spill”
    • Line 39: “kill”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-7: “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.”
    • Lines 12-17: “forgive me / For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words / when they speak to 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.”
    • Lines 28-32: “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,”
    • Lines 32-34: “against all those / who would dissipate my entirety, would / blow me like thistledown hither”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “born; O”
    • Line 4: “born, console”
    • Line 6: “me, with”
    • Line 7: “me, in”
    • Line 8: “born; provide”
    • Line 9: “me, grass,” “me, trees”
    • Line 10: “me, sky,” “me, birds”
    • Line 12: “born; forgiv,” “e”
    • Line 13: “commit, my”
    • Line 14: “me, my”
    • Line 17: “hands, my”
    • Line 18: “born; rehearse”
    • Line 20: “me, bureaucrats,” “me, mountains”
    • Line 21: “me, lovers,” “me, the”
    • Line 25: “born; O”
    • Line 28: “born; O”
    • Line 30: “humanity, would”
    • Line 31: “machine, a”
    • Line 32: “face, a,” “thing, and”
    • Line 33: “entirety, would”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “born”
    • Line 2: “Let not,” “bloodsucking bat or,” “rat or,” “stoat or”
    • Line 3: “club-footed,” “come”
    • Line 4: “console me”
    • Line 5: “human race may with tall walls wall me”
    • Line 6: “with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me”
    • Line 7: “on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me”
    • Line 9: “With water,” “grass,” “grow”
    • Lines 9-10: “trees to talk / to”
    • Line 10: “sky,” “sing,” “white light”
    • Line 11: “my mind,” “me”
    • Line 12: “forgive”
    • Line 13: “For,” “sins,” “in me”
    • Lines 13-14: “world shall commit, my words / when”
    • Line 14: “me,” “thoughts,” “they think”
    • Line 15: “treason,” “traitors”
    • Line 16: “murder,” “means,” “my”
    • Line 19: “parts,” “must play,” “cues,” “must take”
    • Line 20: “old men lecture me, bureaucrats hector me, mountains”
    • Line 21: “frown at me, lovers laugh at me, the white”
    • Line 22: “waves call me to folly”
    • Lines 22-23: “desert calls / me to doom and ”
    • Line 23: “beggar”
    • Line 24: “my gift ,” “my children curse me”
    • Line 28: “fill me”
    • Line 29: “With strength against those”
    • Lines 29-30: “freeze my / humanity”
    • Line 30: “dragoon me into,” “lethal automaton”
    • Line 31: “make me,” “cog,” “machine”
    • Line 33: “dissipate,” “entirety”
    • Line 34: “blow,” “like thistledown hither”
    • Line 35: “thither or hither,” “thither”
    • Line 36: “like water held”
    • Line 37: “hands would spill”
    • Line 38: “Let them not make me,” “stone,” “let them not spill me”
    • Line 39: “kill me”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “the / club-footed”
    • Lines 8-9: “me / With”
    • Lines 9-10: “talk / to”
    • Lines 10-11: “light / in”
    • Lines 12-13: “ me / For”
    • Lines 13-14: “words / when”
    • Lines 16-17: “my / hands”
    • Lines 18-19: “me / In”
    • Lines 19-20: “when / old ”
    • Lines 20-21: “mountains / frown”
    • Lines 21-22: “white / waves”
    • Lines 22-23: “calls / me”
    • Lines 23-24: “refuses / my”
    • Lines 26-27: “God / come”
    • Lines 28-29: “me / With”
    • Lines 29-30: “my / humanity”
    • Lines 31-32: “with / one”
    • Lines 32-33: “those / who”
    • Lines 33-34: “would / blow”
    • Lines 34-35: “and / thither”
    • Lines 35-36: “thither / like”
    • Lines 36-37: “the / hands”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-10: “trees to talk / to me, sky to sing to me”
    • Lines 10-11: “white light / in the back of my mind to guide me.”
    • Lines 18-19: “rehearse me / In the parts I must play and the cues I must take”
    • Lines 20-21: “mountains / frown at me”
    • Lines 21-23: “the white / waves call me to folly and the desert calls / me to doom”
    • Line 26: “the man who is beast”
    • Lines 28-30: “O fill me / With strength against those who would freeze my / humanity”
    • Lines 30-31: “lethal automaton, / would make me a cog in a machine”
    • Line 38: “Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.”

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24
    • Lines 28-38

  • Polysyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where polysyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “or the rat or the stoat or the / club-footed ghoul”
    • Lines 21-24: “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.”

  • Refrain

    

    

    

    

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    Where refrain appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “I am not yet born”
    • Line 4: “I am not yet born”
    • Line 8: “I am not yet born”
    • Line 12: “I am not yet born”
    • Line 18: “I am not yet born”
    • Line 25: “I am not yet born”
    • Line 28: “I am not yet born”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “I am not yet born,” “O hear ,” “me”
    • Line 2: “Let not,” “or the,” “or the,” “or the”
    • Line 3: “me”
    • Line 4: “I am not yet born,” “me”
    • Line 5: “with,” “walls wall,” “me”
    • Line 6: “with,” “with,” “me”
    • Line 7: “racks rack,” “me”
    • Line 8: “I am not yet born,” “me”
    • Line 9: “ me”
    • Line 10: “me,” “me”
    • Line 11: “me”
    • Line 12: “I am not yet born,” “me”
    • Line 13: “me”
    • Line 14: “me,” “my,” “thoughts,” “think,” “me”
    • Line 15: “my,” “treason,” “traitors,” “me”
    • Line 16: “my,” “my”
    • Line 17: “my,” “me”
    • Line 18: “I am not yet born,” “me”
    • Line 20: “me,” “me”
    • Line 21: “me,” “me”
    • Line 22: “call me”
    • Lines 22-23: “calls / me”
    • Line 24: “my,” “my,” “me”
    • Line 25: “I am not yet born,” “O hear me”
    • Line 26: “Let not,” “who is beast or who thinks he is God”
    • Line 27: “me”
    • Line 28: “I am not yet born,” “me”
    • Line 29: “against,” “would”
    • Line 30: “would,” “ me”
    • Line 31: “would,” “me,” “a thing”
    • Line 32: “a thing”
    • Line 33: “would,” “would”
    • Line 34: “me”
    • Lines 34-35: “like thistledown hither and / thither or hither and thither”
    • Line 37: “spill ,” “me”
    • Line 38: “Let them not,” “me,” “spill me”
    • Line 39: “me”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 33-37: “would / blow me like thistledown hither and / thither or hither and thither / like water held in the / hands would spill me.”

• “Prayer Before Birth” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Stoat
  • Club-footed ghoul
  • Console
  • Dope
  • Racks
  • Dandle
  • Treason
  • Engendered
  • Bureaucrats
  • Hector
  • Folly
  • Dragoon
  • Automaton
  • Dissipate
  • Entirety
  • Thistledown
  • Hither
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “the stoat”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Prayer Before Birth”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Prayer Before Birth” Speaker

• “Prayer Before Birth” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Prayer Before Birth”

• More “Prayer Before Birth” Resources

  • External Resources

    • MacNeice's Life and Work — A great resource on Louis MacNeice from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • A Cog in the Machine — A clip from Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" that relates to the poem's second-to-last stanza.  

    • The Poem Read Aloud — Listen to a great reading of the poem by actor Ralph Cotterill. 

    • The Poet's Voice — Hear MacNeice himself recite one of his most famous poems, "Bagpipe Music."

    • MacNeice and the BBC — An interesting article about MacNeice's work during World War II. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Louis MacNeice

    • Snow

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