All The Things You Are Not Yet

I am studying this poem for english and am currently writing an essay on it. It shows a lot of contrasts between different lifestyles e.g. "heating you can't afford" followed by "gorgeous shush of restaurant doors" which shows that the mother is considering the different lifestyles the child might lead. Also it shows that she is apprehensive for her child to grow up and leave home which is shown by the abrupt way it says "not yet" and follows it by "give me your hand" showing that she is holding on to her daughter. She feels that she might lose touch with her daughter and is picturing a day when she will no longer be the only person sharing her daughters experiences and may not know what she is doing in her life "saying to someone i dont know darling."
Hope I helped!

This poem carries the persona of a mother, discussing her daughter's future. She is not wondering about the future, rather, she is stating the facts, hence the title, " All the Things You Are NOT YET". The 'not yet' here suggests that inevitably, her daughter will be drawn into the situations described in the poem, somewhere down the road i.e. the future. Therefore, this poem is not a happy one. It is a poem of inevitabilities, such as poverty, social consciousness and the modern world. The mother is commenting not on the broadening horizons of her daughter as she grows up, but on the narrowing of her horizons. There is only one one path to take. There are no choices. The mother feels helpless and sad about this, and she knows that she is unable to help her daughter, partly because of her daughter' pride and wilfullness.

This was an essay i had to do for my AS-level practise, erm, i dont think its great, but it may have some points..

“Hope and fear are central to many poems in this anthology”
In light of this view, examine the ways in which the language and form of the poems explore hope and fear using ‘Prayer before birth’ and one other poem.

‘All the things you are not yet’ by Helen Dunmore and ‘Prayer before birth’ by Louis MacNeice both explore different aspects of fear and hope, by the use of language and form. The narrator in ‘All the things you are not yet’ fills the page with maternal fears for her unborn daughter, whereas the narrator in ‘Prayer before birth’ focuses on the fears that an unborn child carries.

The fears which develop in ‘Prayer before birth’ are worldly fears. MacNeice considers the effects of the world on an innocent child. The narrator says “I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me”. Here negative imagery is associated with the effects that people can have on people. The fear The narrator uses the phrase “the human race”, this use of language infers to the reader that the narrator is distancing himself from “the human race”, although he too is part of “the human race”, he clearly shows how the narrator does not want to join “the human race”. In contrast to this, the narrator in ‘All the things you are not yet’ displays a positive image of people, “Give me your hand” says the mother in ‘All the things you are not yet’, the mother shows how she is always willing to help until she “can give you (her daughter) nothing”. This gives a sense of hope to the child, and humanity as a whole, as the child will always feel as if she has someone there, constantly to help her, support her and most importantly love her. However there are also aspects of negativity in “All the things you are not yet” as the mother places expectations on the child. The narrator says “There’s a crowd in my head: all the things you are not yet”. This puts pressure on the child to fulfil certain expectations and dreams that the mother has, which could be an extra fear that the unborn daughter will carry in life. This may feel negative at first, but this opening statement can also be seen as positive, as it expresses a sense of hope and faith in the child, which can produce encouragement and excitement to be “all the things” she can be, with the support and faith of her mother.

‘Prayer before birth’ is unsurprisingly like a prayer, but in the form of a dramatic monologue by an unborn child. The use of biblical language such as “O” gives a feeling of spirituality. In the fourth stanza, the narrator goes on to say “I am not yet born: Forgive me”, this adds to the prayer like structure as the narrator is asking for forgiveness in regard to “sins” that he will “commit”, these intensify the biblical feeling of the poem, which is in opposition to ‘All the things you are not yet’ because there are no spiritual or metaphorical fears mentioned by Dunmore, all the fears are direct and exact. They are fears you can imagine a young girl going through on a daily basis in regard to materialistic fears. If you were to imagine the child’s emotional fears when it enters the world, you would refer to ‘Prayer before birth’, as it addresses the deeper fears an innocent person may go through, and the daily struggle an individual faces of good verses evil.

The statement “Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God come near me” in ‘Prayer before birth’ can be interpreted in many ways. ‘Prayer before birth’ was written in 1944, which was when the bombing on London occurred during WWII, the “beast” and he “who thinks he is God” could be referring to Hitler, and how he is trying to control the world, and humanity, but just causing harm and destruction. The narrator also wants to be given strength to be able to fight “against all those” that would “blow” him, “hither and thither or hither and thither”. This assists the idea of Hitler being the “beast” and the one “who thinks he is God”, as the Nazis were bombing England at that time, and therefore people were getting blown “hither and thither”. The repetition of “hither and thither” helps the reader to imagine a powerful visual image of people getting blown up, and the destruction that one man can have on humanity, therefore the fear of entering the world intensifies. Another interpretation could be that the narrator has a negative image of God and religion yet the entire poem has a prayer like structure and there is a constant use of biblical language. This assumption would seem ironic but could show how the narrator believes in God, which explains why the narrator uses a capital “G” in “God” instead of simply “god”, and the prayer like structure, therefore the narrator is giving the sense of possessing the belief in God but the lack of faith in God. The narrator likens a “beast” to “God”; the clear use of juxtaposition highlights the lack of faith. God is usually portrayed as constructive, full of love, compassion and generally positive, in spite of this, the narrator likens God to a beast; something associated with destruction, full of hatred, anger and is portrayed very negatively. This makes the reader presume that the narrator has no faith in God being positive or constructive; hence the narrator feeling negative towards humanity as God is the creator of the negative humanity. “Let them not make me a stone…Otherwise kill me”. Here the narrator clarifies is not scared of death, but of life itself, and the things
There is no mention of God in ‘All the things you are not yet’ which simply further embeds the notion that the mother (the narrator) is more concerned with the worldly desires and materialistic wants rather than the emotional and spiritual needs the soul requires. This narrator considers the anxieties of everything material such as “no money for the telephone”, “unable to buy…washing machine” and “the heating you can’t afford”, these fears are the daily money fears the child may carry, which in comparison to the fears discussed in ‘Prayer before birth’ seem small and insignificant in an individuals life.

There is a sense of hope in both poems, however in ‘Prayer before birth’; the hope is more hidden than the hope in ‘All the things you are not yet’. In ‘Prayer before birth’ the narrator fears humanity, and the world, as he believes they may “make” him “a stone”, and ruin him. But, the mere fact that this human is so intensely scared of being like this offers a spec of hope to “the human race”. The fact that this human fears that “drugs (may) dope” him gives a sliver of hope to that same “human race” that the narrator is scared of. This interpretation lightens the mood of the reader as the intensity of this child’s feelings, and his want to stay good in a world full of evil presents a greater meaning to MacNeice’s poem. Here MacNeice presents to his readers a leader, that is morally correct, that is constantly fighting the struggle of life, and that requires peace in the world in order to find peace within his inner soul. The reader can begin to imagine “All the things” he can be, this helps to link the child of ‘Prayer before birth’ and the child of ‘All the things you are not yet’, as we can begin to imagine what “All the things” each child can become, ignoring the mere fact that the mother is looking at the materialistic aspect, the child has a mind of its own, and can think and speak for itself. On the other hand, the child in ‘All the things you are not yet’ could be seen as a little weaker because she gets affected by material things such as “heating”, and other basics. The use of the repetition of “frowning” emphasizes how upset she is, and how affected she is, by something, in the grand scale of things is actually quite minor. However this child does seem a happier child, as she moves on and her fears seem temporary, whereas the child in ‘Prayer before birth’ seems to hold eternal fears and only a small sliver of hope but on a grander scale.

The repetition of “not yet” by Dunmore and MacNeice stresses how fear of the unknown, and the unseen is one of the greatest fears an individual holds. By repeating “not yet”, both narrators demonstrate how they do not know what the future holds for these unborn children and humanity. This fear is the strong undertone as it dictates the foreground of both poems. The strength of “not yet” lies in its simplicity, therefore creates a greater sense of how large an extent the fear of the unknown is. “Not yet” consists of two simple three letter words, the sounds are complete, but not harsh. They do not flow, and as a result highlight how significant these two words are. Both poems use “not yet” as a basis, through this MacNeice and Dunmore demonstrate how universal the fear of the unknown is, yet it can also, and is also personal to every individual.

The first plea in ‘Prayer before birth’ is “O hear me” and in the first stanza of ‘All the things you are not yet’ is “you are”. The want to be heard from the unborn child in ‘Prayer before birth’ is so strong that it has been placed as the opening statement along with “I am not yet born”. This want is completely ignored by the mother in ‘All the things you are not yet’ as she telling her child what she is. The “you are” is a powerful assertion upon her unborn child. This goes back to a previous point where pressure is placed on the child from the early stages of its life. The child’s plea to be heard is not considered at all in ‘All the things you are not yet’, this would anger an individual and therefore make them feel negative, and come back to the basis of having fear of people. The fear of people focuses on what people do to other people. This mother does not want to inflict hurt and pain upon her child but her human instincts make her without knowing, thus justifying why the child in ‘Prayer before birth’ is so afraid.

‘All the things you are not yet’ is quite personal and focuses on particular young girl living a particular life. This is in opposition to ‘Prayer before birth’, because the narrator does not feel like an individual, like someone living a significant life. The narrator in ‘Prayer before birth’ does not want to be “a cog in a machine’, he does not want to be “a thing with one face”. He repeats “a thing”, which emphasizes how insignificant a human being is in relation to the whole world. This depersonalises the poem and gives a negative feeling towards life and the world. It offers no glimmer of hope, but just fear, and fear of being “a thing”. In contrast to this, the narrator in ‘All the things you are not yet’ offers the reader some hope in “the human race” as she portrays the child to be special, perhaps not in relation to the world, but to herself. She does this by analysing every move of her daughter’s life; this signifies how important her daughter is to her.

Hope and fear are the fundamental issues of both poems. This stresses the importance of them, and the affect they have on people. Hope and fear are universal yet to each individual they are different and intensely personal. ‘All the things you are not yet’ and ‘Prayer before birth’ give a minute insight into these issues but because they are so personal, no one will ever truly know what an individual’s hopes and fears are.