Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K.

Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;

B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

PG Semester-III, CC-10, Unit-I Modern Poetry/ W. B. Yeats

A Prayer for my Daughter

W. B. Yeats - 1865-1939

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid

Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory's wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind,
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour

And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet not

Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.
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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

Helen being chosen found life flat and dull

And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-leggèd smith for man.
It's certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.

In courtesy I'd have her chiefly learned;

Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty's very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.

May she become a flourishing hidden tree

That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

My mind, because the minds that I have loved,

The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

Yet knows that to be choked with hate

May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there's no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.

An intellectual hatred is the worst,

So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty's horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,

The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven's will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house

Where all's accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

Ceremony's a name for the rich horn,

And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

A Prayer for My Daughter, exposes the typical modernist sentiment of the

poet. The poet has portrayed a way of life and would like his daughter to adopt
it. The kind of philosophy, he formulates in the poem is oriented towards an
emphasis on the importance of tradition, custom and culture in the modern
world which is dominated by chaos. The tradition, custom, culture is certainly
aristocracy.

He is of the opinion that aristocracy is the only culture which can redeem the
modern world of chaos and anarchy. For him, aristocracy is the source of
aesthetic, intellectual and cultural beauty. Therefore, probably because of
Nietzsche’s influence upon him, he expresses his hatred for commoners and
wishes his daughter to be trained in the school of aristocracy. He considers it an
ideal way of life. This is a leisurely, well-reasoned ideal, based not only on
mythology and history, but also on his own experience.

The poet advocates and essentially non-Christian order, the keynote of which is
a man's sense of his own nobility and self-sufficiency. The poet has left
sentiments and pathos behind and has cultivated an almost tragic outlook. He
can now combine the appreciation of beauty with a sense of the tragic rather
than a pathetic element of life. He can now impart meaning to the ordinary
events of life which his earlier poetry did not attempt. In the process his poetry
becomes a vehicle of public speech. The poem is strikingly flexible. The poem
can move through description of the place we are beginning to recognize the
tower; it can freely describe the poet's mood of gloom and then move to the idea
of beauty in women from there to symbols of great love found disappointing, to
Helen, Aphrodite and by implication to Maud Gonne.

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

The poem is decorated with a number of phrases and images that are suggestive
and evocative. Much is implied, and more is meant than strikes the ear. The
poem is a mixture of symbols; its richness of texture is remarkable; and is easy
flow of ideas. The storm howling symbolizes destruction, recalls the "mere
anarchy loosed upon the world" of the poem The Second Coming. The flooded
streams also recall the havoc to be wrought in The Second Coining. "The
murderous innocence of the sea" also recalls the images of "blood-dimmed
tide". The bandy-legged smith is McBride and Helen is Maud Gonne by
implication. Yeats has Maud Gonne in his mind when he says that "It's certain
that fine women eat a crazy salad". "The rich Horn of Plenty" is suggestive of
courtesy, aristocracy, and ceremony. The "hidden laurel tree" can provide
through custom the innocence of soul. So the images follow one after another in
succession. The image of Helen evokes another figure Aphrodite, who rose out
of the spray. The union of Aphrodite with Hephaestus bandy legged Smith,
brings to mind the Maud Gonne-McBride episode. Thus the image cluster
becomes increasingly complex.

In this poem, the poet praises courtesy, charm, wisdom and the glad kindness
that Yeats had found in marriage. His main outburst is against hatred, and
especially the 'intellectual hatred'. The idea is that a beautiful woman should
despoil the subjectivity of her nature by the politics of objectivity, or sacrifice
the unity of her being to a cause outside itself. Because of his showing of hatred
in the poem some critics have pointed out that the poem is snobbish. The poem
has a ring of optimism about it in thinking that mere anarchy cannot harm the
child if she is innocent and is nicely bred.

The poem has also been criticized as based on triviality, for the poet has not
desired for his daughter a way of life consistent with the highest religious or
moral ideals. He has not prayed for any Christian virtues for her. Reverent as he
is, he does not convey any religion. Instead, we are offered in the poem an

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

aristocratic faith. However, all such criticism is irrelevant. The poet desires for
her organic innocence and freedom from hatred. The ideals which he upholds
are not theoretical but practical, and they can be easily adopted into practice and
a state of grace attained. The poet has formulated and essentially non-Christian
order, the keynote of which is man's sense of his own nobility and self-
sufficiency. The poet has been true to his convictions and so the poem is
another expression of his artistic honesty.

On A Prayer for my Daughter the coming of ruin upon civilization still

preoccupies Yeats: "Imagining in excited reverie/ That the future years had
come, / Dancing to a frenzied drum, / Out of the murderous innocence of the
sea". But the poem does move from the personal to the general and somehow
philosophical issues. It moves through description of the place; we also
recognize the symbolic ideals of a good culture: the tower, the laurel tree and
custom and ceremony. The poem moves from the real concern of violence of
the times; it describes the poet’s mood of gloom; and then it moves to the ideal
of beauty in women; and from there it moves to symbols of great love found
disappointing, to Helen, Aphrodite and by implication to Maud Gonne. There is
a praise of courtesy, charm, wisdom and the glad kindness (that Yeats had
found in marriage) as well as a hope for merriment. Then comes the terrible
denunciation of intellectual hatred and of Maud Gonne, the loveliest woman
born, (whose opinionated mind is savagely attacked). The last stanzas praise
innocence, and custom and ceremony. It is both relevant and meaningful in the
context of the terrible violence caused by "intellectual hatred" in early twentieth
century Europe, though it might sound a little 'chauvinistic' to modern readers.

It is important to read this poem alongside another famous poem by Yeats,

which was actually written just a few months before this poem, "The Second
Coming." In this earlier work, Yeats sets out his prophecy of doom and gloom,
anticipating the "Mere anarchy" and "blood-dimmed tide" that was set loose on

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

the world due to political changes such as the Russian Revolution and the rise of
fascism. Many critics view "A Prayer for My Daughter" as being a discussion of
how to live and transcend such disturbing events.

The poem begins with an account of the speaker praying for his daughter in the
midst of a "howling" storm because of a "great gloom" that dominates his mind.
Having effectively prophesied a massive upheaval in the world order, now that
he has a daughter, Yeats is concerned about the kind of world that she will grow
up in. Note how the violence of nature finds a parallel in the violence that is to
come as the speaker in the second stanza imagines the future years "Dancing to
a frenzied drum" as the storm rages outside.

He prays that his daughter will develop the kind of characteristics that the
women he loved did not possess. His former lover, Maud Gonne, was beautiful
and aware of it and also fired by nationalistic fervour. Yeats prays that his
daughter, by contrast, will be given beauty, but not too much, because too much
beauty can lead to vanity and an inability to relate to others. He wishes her to
learn "courtesy" and hopes that she can have a life marked by stability and
security, becoming a "flourishing hidden tree." Above all he wants her to marry
into a home where tradition dominates, for as he says:

How but in custom and in ceremony

Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony's a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

In an uncertain world with an uncertain future, therefore, Yeats seems to argue

that the disturbing changes in the world can be overcome through a life lived
focusing on traditional values and the importance of human kindness.

"A Prayer for my Daughter" is a poem by William Butler Yeats written in 1919
and published in 1921 as part of Yeats' collection Michael Robartes and the
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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

Dancer. It is written to Anne, his daughter with Georgie Hyde Lees, whom
Yeats married after his last marriage proposal to Maud Gonne, was rejected in
1916. Yeats wrote the poem while staying in a tower at Thoor Ballylee during
the Anglo-Irish War, two days after Anne's birth on February 26, 1919. The
poem reflects Yeats's complicated views on Irish Nationalism, sexuality, and is
considered an important work of Modernist poetry.

The poem begins by describing "storm" which is a "howling", and his newborn
daughter, sleeping "half hid" in her cradle, and protected somewhat from the
storm. The storm, which can in part be read as symbolizing the Irish War of
Independence, overshadows the birth of Yeats' daughter and creates the political
frame that sets the text into historical context. In stanza two, the setting for the
poem is revealed as being "the tower", a setting for many of Yeats's poems,
including the book of poems entitled The Tower (1928). This is Thoor Ballylee,
an ancient Norman tower in Galway, which Yeats had bought in 1917 and
where he intended making a home.

Conflicts between Ireland and the United Kingdom were common subjects of
Yeats' poetry, including his notable poems about the Dublin
Lockout ("September 1913") and the Easter Rising ("Easter 1916"). David
Holdeman suggests that this poem "carries over from 'The Second Coming'" in
the tone it uses to describe the political situation facing Ireland at the end
of World War One and with the formation of the Irish Republican Army.

The poem contains ten stanzas of eight lines each: two rhymed couplets
followed by a quatrain of enclosed rhyme. Many of the rhyme pairs use slant
rhyme. The stanza may be seen as a variation on ottava rima, an eight-lined
stanza used in other Yeats poems, such as Among School Children and Sailing
to Byzantium.

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

Metrical analysis of the poem, according to Robert Einarsson, proves difficult

because he believes Yeats adheres to "rhythmical motifs" rather than traditional
use of syllables in his meter. In stanza two, Einarsson points out instances
where the meter of the poem contains examples of amphibrachic, pyrrhicretic,
and spondaic feet. He argues that the complexity of Yeats's verse follows
patterns of its "metremes", or rhymical motifs, rather than common metrical
devices.

The poem also may be read to consist of straightforward iambic verse that relies
on common metrical devices such as elision, a cephalous lines, promotion, and
metrical inversion. Lines 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 of each stanza are iambic pentameter;
lines 4, 6, and 7 are iambic tetrameter. For instance, using traditional principles
of scansion, stanza two may be scanned as shown below, where syllables in all
caps represent metrical beats, lower-case syllables represent metrical off-beats,
the vertical bar represents the termination of a metrical foot, and apostrophes
represent elisions. The number of metrical feet per line is marked in parentheses
at the end of each line.

As the poem reflects Yeats's expectations for his young

daughter, feminist critiques of the poem have questioned the poet's general
approach to women through the text's portrayal of women in society. In Yeats's
Ghosts, Brenda Maddox suggests that the poem is "designed deliberately to
offend women" and labels it as "offensive". Maddox argues that Yeats, in the
poem, condemns his daughter to adhere to 19th-century ideals of womanhood,
as he focuses on her need for a husband and a "Big House" with a private
income.

Joyce Carol Oates suggests that Yeats used the poem to deprive his daughter of
sensuality as he envisions a "crushingly conventional" view of womanhood,
wishing her to become a "flourishing hidden tree" instead of allowing her the

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Online Class Lecture Note from Dr. S. K. Paul, Professor and Head; University Department of English;
B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

freedoms given to male children. This was after Yeats was rejected in marriage
by Maud Gonne. In Oates' opinion, Yeats wishes his daughter to become like a
"vegetable: immobile, unthinking, and placid.”

Majorie Elizabeth Howes, in Yeats's Nations, suggests that the crisis facing
the Anglo-Irish community in "A Prayer for My Daughter" is that of female
sexual choice. But, she also argues that to read the poem without the political
context surrounding the Irish Revolution robs the text of a deeper meaning that
goes beyond the relationship between Yeats and the female sex.

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