A Prayer, Under the Pressure of Violent Anguish
written in 1781
A Prayer, Under the Pressure of Violent Anguish - meaning Summary
Prayer Amid Intense Despair
Burns' poem A Prayer, Under the Pressure of violent Anguish is a direct devotional address to God by a speaker in acute distress. It balances raw emotional pleading with theological restraint: the speaker acknowledges God's transcendence and refuses to imagine divine cruelty, alternately begging for relief or a merciful death. Faced with painful necessity, the prayer accepts suffering as possibly serving a wise design and asks for inward firmness to bear hardship without repining. The tone mixes urgency, humility, and a subdued resolve to endure.
Read Complete AnalysesO Thou Great Being! what Thou art, Surpasses me to know: Yet sure I am, that known to Thee Are all Thy works below. Thy creature here before Thee stands, All wretched and distrest; Yet sure those ills that wring my soul Obey Thy high behest. Sure Thou, Almighty, canst not act From cruelty or wrath! O, free my weary eyes from tears, Or close them fast in death! But if I must afflicted be, To suit some wise design; Then man my soul with firm resolves To bear and not repine!
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