Prayer before birth analysis

Louis MacNeice expresses his strong views on the human life by writing a poem through an unborn child's voice. He starts off by asking God to protect him from various dangerous animals that could harm him such as blood sucking bats and land rats. The poet uses vivid language through the child's fears through words such as hear me and not come near me which also rhyme. Furthermore the poet tries to emphasize the unborn …

…being without his own thoughts or feeling. It concludes that rather turning into a machine without thought he'd rather not be born, 'otherwise kill me'. Louis MacNeice has quite a negative view on human life which he demonstrates through his style of writing and use of vivid language and imagery. The poet sees the society turning its members into uncaring human beings unable to think for themselves because of pressure from other people surrounding them.