Major English (Bachelors in Arts) | Tribhuvan University

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet who wrote "A Prayer for my Daughter" two days after the birth of his daughter. Naturally it follows that this poem reflects the qualms of a father regarding the upbringing of his daughter, his aspirations for her and his dilemmas in what to avoid and qualities to instill in his daughter. Butler starts the poem with a description of storm that is brewing outside while his infant daughter sleeps cozily in her cradle half visible. There is nothing stopping the storm except a forest called Gregory's Wood and a solitary hill. In this state, the poet's mind is troubled and he is walking about, praying all this while. In the second stanza, the speaker reveals that the reason for his restlessness is his newborn. Here, he goes into expanding details about the storm as it screams upon the tower. As if in a daydream, he excitedly imagines his daughter's future in a frenzied state lacking calmness. He hopes for his daughter to grow beaut...