SHORT QUESTIONS OF "PRAYER BEFORE BIRTH" BY LOUIS MACNEICE

1. “I am not yet born; O hear me.”—What does the poet wants to say?

 Here in the poem “Prayer Before Birth” by Louis MacNeice, the unborn child requests the God to keep bloodsucking bat or rat or other harmful animal or spirit away from the child when he will be born.

2. “I am not yet born, console me.”—Why does the unborn child demand consolation before birth from God?

 The unborn child fears that society or human may divide him in the name of race, religion with walls or the men may force him to tell lie or men may force him to play with blood. And all these will give him pain. So he demands consolation from the God.

3. “I am not yet born; provide me”—What does the unborn child want to be provided?

 The unborn child wants from the God water to bathe, grass to play on them, trees to talk, bird to chirp for poet and divine light to guide and remove darkness from his mind.

4. “…….. a white light/ in the back of my mind to guide me”—Explain the line.

 The unborn child seeks white light I.e. light of knowledge that will perish his mind’s darkness i.e. superstition, ego, malice, division of creed etc. and that will guide him from wrong way to right way in life.

5. “I am not yet born; forgive me”—Why does the unborn child want forgiveness?

 The unborn child knows very well that when he will be born, he will have to commit sins and then his words, thoughts will be crooked. Society probably will force him to commit suicide. So, in advance, the unborn child seeks forgiveness from the God.

6. “……. My words / when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me”—Explain.

 The unborn child is sure that the society will speak to him roughly or will think of him badly. He doubts that at that time he will not able to control his own words, thoughts against them.

7. “I am not yet born; rehearse me”—Why does the unborn child ask the God to rehearse him?

 The unborn child knows very well that when he will be born, he will have to endure the old men’s lecture, officer’s temper, beloved’s laughter, children’s curse and even the beggar’s refusal. So before birth, the child wants from the God to rehearse to face them.

8. “I am not yet born; O fill me”—What does the unborn child demand from the God?

 The poet demands from the God enough strength so that he can face the evil force that will take away his humanity and force him to join battle field with lethal arms. With that strength, he also wants to go against them who will try to abolish his entity.

9. “……..would dragoon me into lethal automaton/ would make me a cog in a machine …..”—Explain the line. 

 The unborn child knows that when he will be born, the war-monger will surely force him to be a part of deadly war with lethal arms whether he wants it or not. So, he seeks enough strength to go against them.

10. What does the unborn child ask for at the very end of the poem?

/ “Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.

Otherwise kill me.”-Explain.

 At the very end of the poem “Prayer Before Birth”, the unborn child wants that he should be given proper scope to live as a human being in peace and if the God cannot keep the child’s request, the unborn child wants himself to be killed before his birth.

11. “Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God/ Come near me”—Explain.

 The unborn child requests the God to keep away two types of men from him when he will be born—first type is those men who are like beast, who are tyrant and second type is those who are so arrogant that they think themselves God.