1. Advanced Higher English
Prayer
Advanced Higher English

2. Definitions
Secular
Sacred
Minims

3. William Crawley
Carol Ann Duffy, Britain's twentieth poet laureate, and the first woman to be appointed to the position, was once asked if she thinks poetry 'to some extent takes the place of religion' in a secular society. She replied, 'It does for me: I don't believe in God.' Her sonnet 'Prayer' is the voice of that secular spirituality.
Carol Ann Duffy herself said of the poem:
‘Trying to find the sacred within the secular’

4. First Reading Annotate the poem paying close attention to:
Form / Structure
Poetic Devices
Identifying the central concerns of the text

5. BBC Shipping Forecast
"Because of its unique and distinctive sound, the (Shipping Forecast) broadcasts have an appeal beyond those solely interested in nautical weather. The waters around the British Isles are divided into sea areas, also known as weather areas and many listeners find the well- known repetition of the names of the sea areas almost hypnotic, particularly during the bedtime (for Britain) broadcast at 00:48 UK time.”
Listen Here:  

6. Illustrates the contrast between the secular and the sacred
Illustrates the contrast between the secular and the sacred. Although the persona is not of religious faith she is still open to spirituality and spiritual experiences. The use of ‘utters itself’ give agency to the prayer, as if it were autonomous. A welcome release of worry. Duffy effectively establishes the central conceit of the text in these opening lines- the comfort and solace offered by a secular version of prayer.
Metaphor ‘sieve’ suggests the woman’s emotional anguish. As if her head (mind?) was disintegrating through the sieve. This state of desperation is relieved by the next line.
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.
Personification of the tree as singing. The tree becomes enchanting and comforting, a relief to the anguish expressed by the persona earlier in the quatrain.
Minims perhaps a metaphor for birds signing/wind passing through the trees.. Deliberately surreal. Contributes to the metaphysical quality to the poem.
‘sudden gift’ – as if to suggest the unexpected comfort offered by the image of the tree. Perhaps suggesting that solace often arrives in unexpected ways.
Overall, the first quatrain establishes the poem’s key thematic concern (finding the spiritual within the secular) and explores this through the use of imagery (investing everyday events with extraordinary qualities).

7. The second quatrain moves from the spirituality of everyday experiences to the consoling power of memory. Again, secular experiences are rendered with elevated significance.
Develops the point from the first quatrain. Makes clear Duffy’s stance- the absence of faith does not inhibit understanding, realisation and epiphany.
The sibilance conveys the suddenness of the memory as it surfaces in the man’s mind. The sound mimic the steam from the train- portraying memory in sensory term and adding to it’s sense of authenticity.
Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
The train is personified as chanting the litany of worship. Duffy uses religious lexis to elevated this everyday experience and imbue it with spiritual awe. Again, she is contending that the faithless can experience the same metaphysical and epistemological understandings as those with religious faith.

8. Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
Consider the use of tense:
Q1: future- the promise of consolation
Q2: past- the use of memory
Q3: present – ‘pray for us now’
Nature (Q1), Memory (Q2) and now Art (Q3) offer the possibility solace to the secular.
Here, emphasis on the present reinforces the sense of cherishing moments of insight or consolation while we can, rather than dwelling on death.
Allusion to the Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary ‘ Pray for us now at the hour of our death’. Foreshadows the implication of death at the end of the quatrain.
Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.

9. Contrast between the dark exterior and familiar domestic interior
Contrast between the dark exterior and familiar domestic interior. Night-time perhaps connotes vulnerability; a time were we may need consolation and comfort.
Reference to the BBC Shipping Forecast. This is famed for being read in a soothing manner. Used by some to help them sleep. The sentence structure of the final line, with its 4 minor sentences, mimics the reading-style of the forecast. This familiar repetition gives a sense of reassurance. Again, this is about the experiences/benefits of associated with those practicing religious faiths being able to located in everyday, secular experiences.
Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer - Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre
Finisterre. Used on ancient maps to indicate land’s end. Just as the spiritual can be contained in the secular, the use sonnet form (with its firm structure) reflects this idea.
Rhyme of prayer/Finisterre give the poems an almost whispered, solemn quality at its conclusion, like the quiet uttering of a prayer. Appropriate given the central concern of the text.
The rhyming couplet (prayer/Finisterre) encapsulates the key conceit of the poem- the idea of secular versions of prayer still being able to offer solace and comfort to our troubles despite them lacking a religious basis. The form and content work together effective to communicate this (the sentence structure and use of rhyme).

10. Key Ideas / Central Concerns
-The sonnet is an appropriate form to concentrate thought, alongside the contemplative mood prevalent this poem. -A prayer is normally associated with the liturgical, but this sonnet offers a framework for the non-religious. -In the absence of a conventionally religious faith, the poet seeks solace in a secular version of prayer. -Although this is very much a secular/non-religious poem, it lifts up (elevates) ordinary experience and memories and lends them great significance. -In much the same way as William Wordsworth did, Duffy finds ‘solace in the sonnet’s scanty plot of ground’. ‘prayer’ also seems rooted in Wordsworth’s dictum that poetry should be something that ‘cherishes our daily lives’.

11. Form Key Points:
1. Follows closely the Shakespearean Sonnet Form Except: Rhyme Scheme – the couplet rhymes AA rather than GG. Giving it a cyclical quality. This is appropriate as the poem returns to the concern of the first lines at the end. Emphasising it’s central concern. 2. The firm structure of the sonnet gives mimics the structure and rhythms of prayers, reinforcing the idea of elevating the everyday/secular into the scared/spiritual. 3. The concentrated form of the sonnet lends itself to the contemplative mood that pervades the poem. Overall, there is a very effective confluence of form and content in the poem. Duffy use of form expertly informs the poem’s meaning.