A Prayer for My Daughter - W.B. Yeats
A Father's Invocation for Grace, Modesty, and Inner Strength
I
Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory’s wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind,
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.
II
I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
III
May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger’s eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass; for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.
IV
Helen being chosen found life flat and dull
And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-leggèd smith for man.
It’s certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.
V
In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a quiet man and great
While he would find the dear heart’s ways
Is shunned, or gazes on these days.
VI
And now the storm-blast and the running sea,
And all things that sound truer under storm
Proclaim it with the thunder of the blood,
And speak it under storms. She’s proud!
Because of her girl’s face and limbs that pass
This storm-lulled cradle in gloom and gleam,
In courtesy I'd have her rooted deep.
That she should keep from wrack and wrong,
And from the loud wind's raging skein,
Peace under a holier name.
VII
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind
I have walked and prayed for her young limbs that are
Too often the heartbreak of the mind.
May she be modest in her loveliness,
Yet from that loveliness redeem
All that a blind and senseless world can shape
To vex the soul; so that she keep
New beauty from the deeps that gleam.
VIII
An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty’s horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?
IX
May she become a flourishing hidden tree,
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound;
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.
X
My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there’s no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.
In “A Prayer for My Daughter,” first published in 1919, W.B. Yeats reflects on his newborn daughter’s future, contemplating the turbulent modern world and how best she might be safeguarded—spiritually and emotionally. Framed by a literal storm outside, the poem mirrors the societal upheavals following World War I and Ireland’s own political strife. Yeats channels his concerns through paternal devotion, imagining the qualities he hopes she will cultivate to withstand life’s tempests.
Throughout the poem, Yeats juxtaposes ideals of external beauty with a deeper, interior grace. Although he wishes his daughter to be beautiful, he cautions that vanity and self-obsession can undermine human warmth and lasting friendship. He thus prays for a balanced beauty that fosters compassion rather than distance. The poet’s counsel extends to his hope for her to embrace courtesy, modesty, and goodwill—virtues that, in his view, foster genuine relationships and moral resilience.
Yeats also warns against “intellectual hatred,” imploring his daughter to be open-hearted rather than hardened by opinionated pride. By referencing mythic figures (such as Helen of Troy), he underscores how unmoderated beauty, vanity, and rage often lead to personal and societal downfall. The fatherly wish is for her to remain “rooted,” like a steadfast tree, anchored in innocence and kindness, unwithered by the world’s strife.
Ultimately, “A Prayer for My Daughter” resonates as an intimate meditation on how virtue, kindness, and a well-tempered mind can serve as protective forces. Even amid political tumult and social discord, Yeats’s paternal love guides a vision of hope—a homegrown bulwark against the storm’s destructive power.
Key points
1. Yeats frames his hopes for his daughter against a backdrop of social and political turmoil.
2. He advocates a balanced form of beauty, grounded in kindness and humility.
3. The poem cautions against extremes—whether vanity, pride, or intellectual hatred.
4. Despite life’s inevitable storms, virtues like courtesy and rootedness can offer lasting shelter.