Explain the following with reference to the context:
“May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass.”
These lines are taken from W. B. Yeats’s (1865-1939) poem “A Prayer for My Daughter.” Yeats wrote this poem in 1919, just after the birth of his baby girl, Anne. In the poem, he prays for her future. He wishes for the qualities that will help her live a good and peaceful life. These lines come from the part where Yeats prays about beauty.
In the lines, Yeats says, “May she be granted beauty and yet not / Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught.” Here Yeats wants his daughter to be beautiful, but not too beautiful. He does not want a kind of beauty that makes strangers lose control or fall deeply in love
just by seeing her. He feels that extreme beauty can attract the wrong kind of attention. It can create unnecessary problems in life.
Then Yeats says, “Or hers before a looking-glass.” By this he means that he does not want his daughter to become too proud of her own beauty. He worries that if she becomes overly beautiful, she may spend too much time looking at herself in the mirror. She may become vain and selfish. She may only care about appearance instead of good manners.
Yeats believes that too much beauty can destroy a person’s natural kindness. They may not value love and friendship. So, he prays for a balanced beauty for her daughter that brings joy but does not lead to pride.
In simple words, Yeats wants his daughter to have gentle beauty with a good heart. He does not want dangerous or prideful beauty for her.
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