MacNeice has also used internal rhythm, pathetic fallacy, modern lexis, monosyllables, assonance, oxymorons, paradox and an extended stage metaphor to make the poem like an actual prayer. Repetition of “I am yet not born” at the start of every stanza makes the poem like an incantation, referring back to the idea of a prayer. Furthermore, every stanza follows this clause with an imperative, illuminating the child’s plea’s desperation and his innocence. The first stanza depicts the imagination of the child, and childish horrors like a “bloodsucking bat.” This shows the reader that the child is scared, even before its birth (alliteration of ‘b’ is used in the phrase for emphasis). The harsh alliteration of ‘d’ in “drugs dope,” combined with the internal repetition of “tall walls” and “black racks rack,” generates a feeling of claustrophobia and oppression, indicating the hopeless task of escaping the conflict of the world. The personification of nature throughout the poem gives nature human-like properties, suggesting that the child prefers nature over humans, unsurprisingly
MacNeice has also used internal rhythm, pathetic fallacy, modern lexis, monosyllables, assonance, oxymorons, paradox and an extended stage metaphor to make the poem like an actual prayer. Repetition of “I am yet not born” at the start of every stanza makes the poem like an incantation, referring back to the idea of a prayer. Furthermore, every stanza follows this clause with an imperative, illuminating the child’s plea’s desperation and his innocence. The first stanza depicts the imagination of the child, and childish horrors like a “bloodsucking bat.” This shows the reader that the child is scared, even before its birth (alliteration of ‘b’ is used in the phrase for emphasis). The harsh alliteration of ‘d’ in “drugs dope,” combined with the internal repetition of “tall walls” and “black racks rack,” generates a feeling of claustrophobia and oppression, indicating the hopeless task of escaping the conflict of the world. The personification of nature throughout the poem gives nature human-like properties, suggesting that the child prefers nature over humans, unsurprisingly