Different Ways to Pray

Nye’s “Different Ways to Pray” is a free verse poem of six stanzas of varying lines, each stanza ranging from six to ten lines long. Featuring a mixture of long lines that extend out into the page and short, clipped lines that are only four words long, Nye’s poem blends varying line lengths. Illustrating numerous ways to pray, each stanza explores a new form of prayer and new subjects.

Told through the third person omniscient perspective, the poem moves through different forms of prayer, from formal, traditional prayer to rustic rituals. The poem opens with a traditional form of prayer noted as “the method of kneeling” (Line 1). However, Nye’s speaker immediately qualifies this method, stating that it only works “if you [live] in a country / where stones [are] smooth” (Lines 2-3), indicating that kneeling prayer is for those who live in rich countries with established places of worship. Describing this wealth as the wealth the women pray for (“The women dreamed wistfully of bleached courtyards” [Line 4]), and how fervently and passionately they prayed for these things (“Their prayers were weathered rib bones” [Line 6]), Stanza 1 represents a type of prayer defined by its determination and desire.