Corruption of the World
"Prayer Before Birth" was written and published during the height of World War II in 1944. At the time, European countries were experiencing devastation on a near daily basis; entire cities were destroyed, civilians were killed, and the Nazi regime was carrying out their genocidal crusade against Jews and other groups across the continent. The central theme of "Prayer Before Birth" is the corruption of the world, evidenced by the effects of the war. The speaker of the poem sends a "prayer" to the reader asking for protection against this corruption, which they also perceive as inevitable. At the end of the poem, the speaker is resigned to the fact that death before birth would be preferable to living in a world characterized by violence and destruction.
Hopelessness
As the speaker entreats the reader to think about how far society has fallen, they express a sense of hopelessness when it comes to its recovery. The speaker frames the corruption, violence, and evil they see around them as the inevitable course of humanity, noting that they, too, will become corrupted by the forces around them once they are born. Even when the speaker asks for strength to fight these forces in the second-to-last stanza, they still admit at the end of the poem that death is preferable to life in a fallen world. The poem therefore subscribes to a rather bleak outlook on life and humanity, portraying a speaker who sees no redemption for society whatsoever.
