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How do the poems "If—" and "Prayer Before Birth" convey hopes and fears?
Quick answer:
Both "If—" and "Prayer Before Birth" convey hopes and fears about navigating life's challenges. In "If—," the speaker advises his son on virtues like self-trust, resilience, and modesty to succeed in life, expressing hope he can attain these qualities. "Prayer Before Birth" features an unborn child's plea for protection from life's evils, expressing fears of violence and deceit while hoping for strength and guidance.
Both poems, "If—" and "Prayer Before Birth," explore the hopes and fears that a parent might have for their child, or that a person might have for their own life. In Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—," a parent speaks to their child. The word "if" is repeated to express the speaker's speculation about hypothetical situations in the child's life, which convey both hopes and fears. For example:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
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I am not yet born, console me.
I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me,
with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me,
on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me.
References
The poem "Prayers Before Birth" by Louis Macneice focuses mostly on fears. It goes through a list of some of the most common tragedies that may happen in one's life. From club-footed ghouls to being laughed at by a lover, the poem addresses many of the struggles a human might go through throughout the course of life.
It also touches some on hopes, especially in the second stanza, which talks about water and grass and trees, as well as the beauty and consolation that life can bring with it.
"If—" by Rudyard Kipling focuses more on how a person might react to the fears and hopes that come with life. The line "If you can dream—and not make dreams your master" is great in the way it addresses hopes and how too much of something good can become a bad thing.
This poem talks a lot about balance. It's about figuring out how to live in balance and be okay with both hopes and fears and learn to be yourself and be untainted by the dangers and struggles of life.
In Rudyard Kipling's If, the speaker's voice is that of a father instructing his young son on becoming a man. The speaker wants his son to develop a specific type of character; a character in keeping with gentlemanly notions of morality, goodness, and manhood. Instructing his son in the specific behaviors and habits that will make the boy "a man," the paternal speaker thus conveys his own hope that the boy might grow into the type of person described. At the same time, the speaker conveys his fear concerning his son's development of character. For if the boy does not prove capable of the stern and trying standard espoused by his father, he will, by implication, not "be a (true) man." We sense that such a turn of events would doubtlessly bring shame and disappointment upon his father.
In Prayer Before Birth, Louis Macneice uses the voice of the unborn speaker to convey universal hopes and fears. Like Kipling's father in the poem If, Macneice's unborn speaker conveys hope and fears in the form of instruction. In this case, the instruction is general; the prayer is directed toward the heavens, as well as toward those already born. The speaker's words read as admonition, warning, and promise. They convey hopes such as finding redemption, experiencing forgiveness, and feeling wonder. They also convey existential fears: of being boxed in, of having to fit into roles, of rejection, and of being alienated from self and community.