Introduction of the Poem:
Yeats’ poem “A Prayer for My Daughter” is one of the most celebrated poems ever written by him. It was written at the time when he saw his infant girl on a fiercely stormy day. His eldest child, which was a daughter, was born in January 1919. When the infant was a few days old, there was a fierce storm outside his house in the Norman tower called Thoor Ballylee in Galway Country. Seeing the storm, he was much disturbed in his mind.
He glanced at his daughter to whom he had given the name Annie Butler Yeats. His infant daughter was asleep in her cradle at that time. Yeats prayed for her. Then, an idea came into his mind and he started to write the poem but he left it unfinished. Then, he completed this poem in June 1919. Later on, he published his poetic volume entitled “Michael Robartes and the Dancer” in 1921 in which he included this poem. The poem has 80 lines which have been divided into ten stanzas of eight lines each. The poet has infused great thought content in the poem in which he prays for certain natural gifts in his daughter. He also expresses his views on the heartlessness of a great beauty. In fact, he refers here to Maud Gonne's cruelty to the poet's love. In this poem, the poet prays to God to grant his little daughter ordinary beauty without pride, refined courtesy and enlargement of soul. The poet wants that his little daughter may be free from empty pride which gives rise to intellectual hatred. He thinks so because of her intellectual hatred that Maud Gonne ruined her life and prospects of happiness. In the end, the poet prays to God to grant boon to his daughter to be married to a man, belonging to an Aristocratic family so that she may learn and love courtesy, tradition and ceremonies.
Summary of the Poem:
There is a great gloom in the poet's mind. He is deeply worried because a furious storm which is born on the Atlantic ocean, is almost massacring the Irish countryside. The storm is growing violent due to receiving no obstruct on its way. The sea wind is howling. The poet can hear it under the arches flooded stream. Hardly anything excepting Gregory's wood and one bare hill can give any resistance to the storm. The poet's one month's daughter is lying asleep in her cradle. She is half - covered under her coverlet and her cradle hood. The poet feels much worried about her safety. For an hour the poet has walked and prayed for her daughter's safety. The storm is noisy and seems to be destructive which has excited in him a visual fear, filling his mind with thoughts. While strolling and praying for his daughter the poet hears the furious sound of the storm while it passes upon the tower, under arches and of bridges and over elm trees. He fancies in his excitement that the years of future have come out with shattering effect for the mankind the devastating future ahead have come out dancing with the rhythm of the wild beating of drums (the furious sound of storm is compared with the beating of a frenzied drum) it has indeed, leaped up from the sea which though seems to be innocent, yet is destructive because it gave rise to the violent storm.
Now, the poet wants that God may grant certain natural gifts to his infant daughter. She should have an ordinary beauty because exceptional beauty makes a lover mad with love. And the girl becomes full of pride when she views in the mirror. In the state of pride, she fails to choose a suitable life - partner and the right man for her husband like Helen. Helen was extremely beautiful and she was married to Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris, Prince of Troy and her foolish seducer caused her much trouble. Likewise, Venus, sprang from the foam of the sea, was extremely beautiful. She was unguided as she was fatherless. She married to the lame ironsmith of the gods because of her whim. Her marriage with the ironsmith shows that great beauties are too proud. They become crazy and this craziness destroys their great marital happiness and becomes sad.
The poet is anxious that his daughter may be granted courtesy. Its reason is that the girl of an average beauty wins her lover's heart by her virtues and good manners. She can't impress a young man with ordinary beauty. She should be granted courtesy and good manners. Whatever, she thinks, should be innocent and cheerful like the notes of linnet. Her soul may flourish like a tree whether she drinks or quarrels, should be for the sake of fun . She should shine like the leaves of green laurel. The poet wants that her daughter's mind may be free from hate and intellectual hatred. The poet refers that Maud Gonne's intellectual hatred kept her aloof from lovers and in the end, her intellectual hatred inspired her to become a revolutionary orator full of inflammatory speeches. In this process, she ruined her life. That's way, the poet wishes that his daughter should be free from this vice and may live happily even though the whole world turns hostile to her. In the concluding part of the poem, the poet prays to God that his daughter may be married to a man, belonging to an aristocratic family in which refined manners, courtesy and traditions are maintained. The custom and ceremony are the sources of innocence, beauty, happiness, prosperity gladdening success and honour in life.
Theme of the Poem:
In the poem the poet prays that his daughter may be gifted with beauty which does not make a stranger's eye distraught, that she may grow up to be kind and capable of closest intimacy and not like Helen bored and troubled by a fool, that she may have courtesy and aristocratic traits in keeping with the name of her house, and that she may have a fixed home and happy thoughts. The poet looks within himself and finds that there is hatred inside. He thinks that hatred kills innocence and wishes that his daughter should not harbour hatred. He realises that intellectual hatred is of the nastiest kind. It was because of this unwholesome bent of the mind that Maud Gonne married a fool. The poet wished that her daughter should not cultivate a fanatic intellect. He thinks that her daughter can remain innocent if she is free from hatred and intellectual fanaticism. The innocence is “self-delighting,” “self – appearing” and “self-affrighting”. The poet's last wish is that her daughter should marry a person of aristocratic family who may take her to a home where tradition and ceremony fill the atmosphere.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem entitled “A Prayer for my Daughter” is one of the most celebrated poems that have ever come from the pen of Yeats. In this poem, the poet recalls his merciless beloved —Maud Gonne and his infant daughter, sleeping in her cradle on the other. He was full of emotions which were excited by storm which howled outside his house, in the Old Norman tower in Thoor Ballylee which is located in the county of Galway. He used to live in the tower with his wife. When his eldest daughter Annie Butler Yeats was born in Jan. 1919, he was extremely happy and prayed to God to give her courtesy as well other qualities. One day there was blowing a great storm out of his house. His mind was dipped into deep emotions and he began to think about his youthful days, his beloved — Maud Gonne and a sad separation from her. His heart was filled with deep emotions and affection for her. He began to write the poem but left it unfinished. In June, 1919, he started this poem again and finished it. Then it was published in his poetic volume entitled Michael Robartes and the Dancer which was published in 1921.
Portrayal of An Aristocratic way of Life:
In this poem, he has portrayed an aristocratic way of life and wishes his daughter to adopt it. He considers it an ideal way of life, but this ideal is not a Polonius like ex - cathedra statement. His is a leisurely, well-reasoned ideal, based not only on mythology and history, but on his own experience of men and women. Its homely tone and air of intimacy give it great appeal. The poet advocates an essentially non - Christian order the keynote of which is a man's sense of his own nobility and self-sufficiency.
Tragic Outlook:
The poem is a landmark in the poet's journey along the road to the goal of poesy. He has left sentiments and pathos far behind and has cultivated the tragic outlook. He can now combine the appreciation of beauty with a sense of the tragic rather than with the 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 striking flexible. A. N. Jeffares points out that the poet was achieving flexibility as revealed in the poem. The poem can move through description of the place we are beginning to recognise, 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.
A Great Treasure of Phrases and Images:
The poem is adorned with wealth of phrases and images that are suggestive and evocative. Much is implied and more is meant than strikes the ear. The poem is an amalgam of symbols, its richness of texture is remarkable, and is easy flow of ideas, more subtly linked than may at first appear, is a result of Yeats’ increasing ability to make his concepts cohere. The storm howling symbolises destruction recalls the mere anarchy of The Second Coming. The flooded streams also recall the havoc to be wrought in The Second Coming. The murderous innocence of the sea recalls the images of blood - dimmed tide and the violence of the Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen. The bandy - legged Smith is McBride and Helen is Maud Gonne by implication. Yeats has Maud Gonne is 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 spray. The union of Aphrodite with Hephaestus, the bandy legged. Smith brings to mind the Maud Gonne - McBride episode. Thus the image cluster becomes increasingly complex.
Denunciation of Intellectual Hatred:
In this poem the poet eulogises courtesy, charm, wisdom and the glad kindness that Yeats had found in marriage. His main tirade is against hatred, and specially 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 this showing of hatred in the poem some critics have pointed out that the poem is snobbish. But Arnold Usher in Three Irishmen defends the poem and says that this criticism is unjust. 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.
Condemnation of the Poem Due to Aristocratic Faith:
The poem has also been criticised 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 aristocratic faith. However, all such criticism is irrelevant. The poet desires for her “organic” innocence and freedom from hatred. The ideals which uphold are not theoretical but practical, and they can be easily adopted into practice and a state of grace attained. The poet has formulated an essentially none. Christian order the key - note 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.
In A Prayer for my Daughter this coming of ruin upon civilization 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 this poem shows the flexibility he was achieving. It can move through description of the place we are beginning to recognise, the tower, it can freely describe the poet's mood of gloom and then move to the idea of beauty in women, for there to symbols of great love found disappointing, to Helen, Aphrodite and by implication 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 a savagely attacked. The last stanzas praise innocence, and custom and ceremony. This poem is an amalgam of symbols, its richness of texture is remarkable, and its easy flow of ideas, more subtly linked than may at first appear, is a result of Yeats's increasing ability to make his concepts cohere. This is a compound of love and hatred; the scorn for the thoroughfares reminds us of the little streets. Maud Gonne would have thrown upon the great (No Second Troy); the praise of innocence and beauty goes back to idealistic youthfulness when merriment was possible.
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