Dr Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 15 October 2006

NOTES

SENSE

The poet looks through the eyes of an unborn child at all the fears that face modern humanity, and asks God (or humanity?) to spare him these terrors.

CLOSER ANALYSIS

Stanza 1:

The first fear refers to all the frightening things of the night, both real and imaginary.

Stanza 2:

Next is the fear of being closed in by lies and persuasion, being led by drugs, tortured both mentally and physically, and being made to participate in warfare and other massacres.

Stanza 3:

The poet makes a plea for the good things of life which today are fast disappearing: clean water, love, forests, birds and purity ("white light") as a guide.

Stanza 4:

The child asks for forgiveness for all the sins that the world is going to make him commit in the future:

• his wrong words
• his evil thoughts
• those times when he is led to commit treason
• the times when he will be forced to kill other people
• ultimately for his own death of spirit because he has been forced to give into these social pressures.

Stanza 5:

The child asks to be guided into the part he must act in this dramatic performance of life so that he is able to perform his role correctly, and that he be given all the right clues on how to react when important people lecture him or laugh at him.

• Note the metaphor of the stage.
• Note too the extended personification: mountains frowning, deserts calling, etc.

Stanza 6:

A plea is made that tyrants and autocrats (like Adolph Hitler) may not be allowed to come near him.

Stanza 7:

He asks for the strength not to become a killing machine ("lethal automaton") or just a part in a machine ("cog in a machine"):

• he pleads that he be not allowed to become inhuman ("a thing")
• or something that is completely at the mercy of others ("blow me like thistledown hither and thither")
• or spilt as if he were just water.

Stanza 8:

His final plea is that his heart may not turn to stone, or his life be wasted.

Failing that, he would rather be aborted right away.

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TONE

The poet examines the despair which faces modern man.

• Social pressure and prejudice are today almost unstoppable.
• The poet makes an impassioned plea for children to be able to lead lives free from this.

There is a sense, however, that his plea will fall on deaf ears.

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VOCABULARY

BLOODSUCKING BAT, etc - fearful things of the night

STOAT - nocturnal animal

CLUB-FOOTED GHOUL - frightening monster

CONSOLE - comfort

LURE - entice, persuade

RACKS - instruments of torture

BLOOD-BATHS - wars, massacres

PROVIDE - give

DANDLE - play with

WHITE LIGHT - source of purity

TREASON - crime against one's own country

ENGENDERED - give birth to

TRAITORS - those who plot against their own country

REHEARSE - practise the role to be played

CUES - hints at what needs be done

FOLLY - stupidity

THE MAN WHO IS BEAST - evil man, e.g. Adolph Hitler

DRAGOON - forced to do something against one's will

LETHAL AUTOMATON - killing machine

COG - part of a machine

DISSIPATE - spread out, evaporate, weaken

THISTLEDOWN - soft and light seed that floats and drifts on the wind

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