A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER
A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER
-W.B.Yeats
Yeats popularly known as a lyric
poet. This poem is a simple poem written
when the first child was born to him on 26th February 1919. It depicts his ideal of womanhood. He prays that his daughter may acquire those
virtues when she grows up.
A storm rises in the Atlantic
Ocean. The poet is anxious about the
safety of his child. The wild wind may
even blow up the roof of the castle. He
has prayed for the safety of his child.
The storm indicates that the future
would be full of troubles. The poet
imagines how his daughter should grow and behave. When he starts to imagine, he decides how she
should turn out. This appeases his
worries.
Yeats hopes that she must be
beautiful but she should not be carried away by her beauty. Too much of beauty will take away the natural
kindness from a woman. The father
shudders at the thought of her daughter’s turning to be another Helen of Troy.
Yeats wants his daughter to be
courteous. Love is not inspired by mere
physical beauty; it is earned by good efforts by those who are kind and
helpful. Charming manners and kindness
are more important for a woman than mere physical beauty.
The father in the poet is keen that
his daughter should be like a tree giving shade to people when she grows
up. And her feeling should be like the
sweet song of the linnet which spreads joy.
He desires that his daughter need not be charming, but must be blessed
with grace and nobility.
According to Yeats, hatred is the
worst evil. He does not want his
daughter to have a prejudiced mind.
Since the spirit of the soul is the will of God, he prays that she must
take whatever comes to her as the will of God.
And finally, as a father, he hopes
that his daughter should live in a house where there is customs and
traditions. Let the house of her husband
be comfortable and secured but not at the expense of anyone.
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