“I am not yet born; 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, and against all those/ who would dissipate my entirety, would/ blow me like thistledown hither and/ thither or hither and thither/ like water held in the/ hands would spill me.”—Explain.

“I am not yet born; 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, and against all those

who would dissipate my entirety, would

blow me like thistledown hither and

thither or hither and thither

like water held in the

hands would spill me.”—Explain.

Answer: These lines have been taken from MacNeice’s poem, ‘Prayer Before Birth’. In this poem, an unborn child prays to God before his birth. He knows that the world is full of malice, contrast, controversy, hatred, war. He knows that it will not be easy to live on this earth. So, he wants enough power from God so that he can stand against them especially against that evil power that will force him to join war to kill humanity with lethal automaton indiscriminately. He also prays to God to have enough strength so that he can oppose them who will consider the unborn child not as a human being but as a machine and who will dissipate his entirety like water held in hand. The poet is fearful about it before his birth. The poet also expresses his hatred and protest against war. He knows war is not the solution to any dispute. Rather, war nips life in bud.