Thoreau's Prayer

A Philosopher’s Wish

Jun 5, 2008 Linda Sue Grimes

Henry David Thoreau assessed his poetic talent by referring to himself as "sometimes a Poetaster"; his attempt at an Italian sonnet proves the accuracy of his assessment.

Thoreau also offers the following reason for lacking poetic ability: “My life has been the poem I would have writ, / But I could not both live and utter it.” Fortunately, readers have been treated to Thoreau’s true talent: his experiment in examining his life.

That he examined his life and tried to find a suitable path is a gift to subsequent generations and a reminder of the Socratic injunction that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Though it was a short life, Thoreau’s was arguably one well worth living.

The Philosopher

Thoreau’s poem simply titled “Prayer” undoubtedly says exactly what the philosopher wanted to say. The philosophy of the poem may seem somewhat dissident but upon reflection, the reader can make great sense of it, despite its lack of poetic polish.

The poem’s form is similar to an Italian sonnet with the octave split into two quatrains. Each quatrain consists of two couplets. The sestet’s first two lines are also a couplet. The overall rime scheme is AABBCCDD EEFGFG. It might be called an innovative Italian sonnet.

Octave: “Great God, I ask for no meaner pelf”

The speaker in “Prayer” is asking “Great God” to let him “not disappoint [him]self” but he also asks that he “greatly disappoint [his] friends.”

He then asks that his behavior rise to a level that he can find acceptable: “in my action I may soar as high / As I can now discern with this clear eye.” He is being utterly practical; he wants to be no better and no worse than he is capable of. This makes him sound quite pragmatic without even a hint of romantic nonsense.

The first quatrain focuses on his plea for himself, while the second quatrain focuses on his plea for his friends; this plea is “next in value.” By God’s “kindness,” he hopes not only to disappoint his friends, but he also wants them to be unable to have a clue about his own qualities. The reader might deem this to be truly selfish desire, but the speaker assumes that whatever his “friends” may know about him is bound to be inaccurate.

Sestet: “That my weak hand may equal my firm faith”

In the sestet, the speaker implores “Great God” to strengthen him physically by making “[his] weak hand” to “equal [his] firm faith.” The speaker here avers that he is a spiritually strong person, and his next line also supports this assertion: “my life practice what my tongue saith.” He does not want to be guilty of the hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing another.

Humbly, the speaker asks that he may not seem to display a lack of moral understanding of “[God’s] purpose,” while at the same time he does not want to seem to be flattering God or “overrat[ing] [God’s] designs.”

Commentary

Thoreau’s “Prayer” relies chiefly on literal language. He uses no imagery or metaphor. Perhaps one could glean a hint at a metaphor in the line, “in my action I may soar as high”—one infers a bird here, but only for a brief moment. (Such inadequacies testify to the “poetaster” that he claimed to be.)

He does reply on synecdoche in phrases such as “my weak hand,” in which “hand” refers to his whole physical being, and ”my relenting lines,” in which “lines” represent the whole poem.

Other Thoreau article: The Vain Peaceful Noise: A Thoreauvian Complaint

The copyright of the article Thoreau's Prayer in Poetry is owned by Linda Sue Grimes. Permission to republish Thoreau's Prayer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau