Analysis of two poems; Prayer Before Birth and Easter Monday Essay

Analysis of two poems; Prayer Before Birth and Easter Monday In this essay I will be analysing two poems. Both poems reflect upon the theme of war. I will be analysing them through their meanings, forms and show how the poets use language to express their ideas and feelings. I have decided to look at the poems Prayer Before Birth by Louis MacNeice and Easter Monday by Eleanor Farjeon. Louis MacNeice was born in 1907, he died in 1963. His mother died when he was young and her death got to him deeply. He studied at Oxford and was one of a group of poets here who became famous. He was intensely affected by the political events of the 1930’s and also by the Second World War. This poem is about an unborn child praying that it should be born into a good world. The only verse which provides images of this good world is verse number three and the images of goodness are linked to nature; water, grass, trees, sky and a white light to guide him. All the other verses are filled with images of a world of hostility, repression, distraction and many of them refer to things that ...