Parental Love and Personal Anxieties and William Butler Yeast’s A Prayer for My Daughter

Abstract

The poem 'A Prayer for my Daughter' portrays the love and anxiety of a father who has been blessed with a daughter.  Poem is about a father's hopes and concerns for his child. Yeats hopes that his daughter will grow and flourish with virtue and modesty. This poem is filled with anxiety as to how to shelter his baby from the wave of terrible times ahead. The poem is midpoint on paternal anxiety and spiritual protection, expressing a father's plea for his infant son's safety. Yeats's paternal anxieties reflect his unfulfilled love for Maud Gonne and shape his aspirations for his daughter.