A Comparison of Prayer Before Birth, the Tyger and Half-Past Two
English Literature Coursework
Prayer Before Birth, The Tyger, and Half-past Two are poems which explore encounters between the speaker, or a character, and a force that is greater than he is. How do the three poets develop and contemplate this experience?
Prayer before Birth, The Tyger and Half-past Two are three poems which explore an encounter between the character and a force much greater than he is. The first, by Louis MacNeice, uses imagery of religion and innocence to present God as a higher power acting above us, whilst The Tyger, by William Blake, describes the creation of the tiger and who its creator might be, again showing God as immensely powerful, but in this case he is shown as intimidating and frightening. Half-past Two, by U.A. Fanthorpe, portrays a young child, ignorant of the adult measurement of time, and his experience as he “escaped into the clockless land for ever”; this poem introduces a different force acting upon the character: time, and the different manners in which we conceive it.
Louis MacNeice presents God as an important force with power over the speaker; he does this by making use of liturgical language throughout his poem. Terms such as “Prayer”, “sin”, “forgive me”, “console me” or “let not” emphasize this. The way the child asks someone to “hear”, “provide”, “console” him, as well as the title “Prayer Before Birth”, implies that he is praying to God to create a better world for him to live in before he is born, which adds to the biblical language. Another line which reinforces that the child wants to speak to God is “Let not […] who thinks he is God come near me”: this shows that the child wants to see God and no one else.
Another powerful force the poet develops throughout is that of society and its leaders. The chid begs not to be born into a world which is devoid of love, compassion and remorse, full of people prepared to “make [him] a stone”, “make [him] a cog in a machine, a thing with / one face, a thing”, or
Prayer Before Birth, The Tyger, and Half-past Two are poems which explore encounters between the speaker, or a character, and a force that is greater than he is. How do the three poets develop and contemplate this experience?
Prayer before Birth, The Tyger and Half-past Two are three poems which explore an encounter between the character and a force much greater than he is. The first, by Louis MacNeice, uses imagery of religion and innocence to present God as a higher power acting above us, whilst The Tyger, by William Blake, describes the creation of the tiger and who its creator might be, again showing God as immensely powerful, but in this case he is shown as intimidating and frightening. Half-past Two, by U.A. Fanthorpe, portrays a young child, ignorant of the adult measurement of time, and his experience as he “escaped into the clockless land for ever”; this poem introduces a different force acting upon the character: time, and the different manners in which we conceive it.
Louis MacNeice presents God as an important force with power over the speaker; he does this by making use of liturgical language throughout his poem. Terms such as “Prayer”, “sin”, “forgive me”, “console me” or “let not” emphasize this. The way the child asks someone to “hear”, “provide”, “console” him, as well as the title “Prayer Before Birth”, implies that he is praying to God to create a better world for him to live in before he is born, which adds to the biblical language. Another line which reinforces that the child wants to speak to God is “Let not […] who thinks he is God come near me”: this shows that the child wants to see God and no one else.
Another powerful force the poet develops throughout is that of society and its leaders. The chid begs not to be born into a world which is devoid of love, compassion and remorse, full of people prepared to “make [him] a stone”, “make [him] a cog in a machine, a thing with / one face, a thing”, or