world Yeats daughter was born just after the First World War and during a time of political unrest in Ireland So the poet s fear for his daughter came from real events Outside the storm is raging and he is walking for an hour and praying for his daughter I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour This image shows the poet's real fear He is worried for his daughter s future in a world full of violence and hatred So he prays for her Personal Experience about Beauty and Love Yeats hopes his daughter will be beautiful but not too beautiful He believes that too much beauty can make a person proud and selfish So he wants simple beauty for her He wants her to be the kind of person who wins love through kindness These prayers actually come from Yeats real-life experience about beauty and love Yeats had a long and painful love life with Maud Gonne a beautiful Irish politician But his love was one-sided Maud Gonne was proud and angry She hated Yeats The poet calls this intellectual hatred because she was proud and she always thought her opinion was right Yeats believes beauty without kindness can lead to unhappiness just like Maud Gonne He writes Have I not seen the loveliest woman born Because of her opinionated mind Barter that horn and every good Here by the loveliest woman the poet is referring to Maud Gonne He also says Gonne lost all her happiness because of her opinionated mind It means that because of her anger hatred and obsession with politics she wasted all her happiness Here Yeats is saying that Gonne married an angry politician Major John MacBride but the marriage did not last long He compares her husband to an old bellows full of angry wind So again Yeats brings his personal experience into the poem to pray for his daughter Tradition and Good Manners Yeats valued tradition and good manners throughout his life So in this poem he prays that his daughter will be married to a house where traditions and good manners are followed And may her bridegroom bring her to a house Where all's accustomed ceremonious He wants a loving marriage and a safe home for her This prayer also comes from Yeats s personal views So this is another autobiographical element Gregory s Wood We find another personal element when Yeats mentions Gregory s wood in the opening stanza to describe the storm outside Lady Gregory was the poet s close friend A Father s Personal Prayer Most importantly the whole poem is a father s private prayer for his child He talks about his own hopes his own fears and his own memories This makes the poem deeply autobiographical In conclusion A Prayer for My Daughter is rich with autobiographical elements Yeats uses his personal fears his memories of failed love and his dream of a peaceful family life to shape this poem Through these real-life feelings Yeats creates a heartfelt prayer for his daughter