Meaning & Analysis
Prayers, like explosive devices (petards), have the power to forcefully open the gates of heaven, reaching the divine and compelling attention.
Insights
Power of Earnest Prayer
Compares heartfelt or fervent prayer to a petard—a tool for breaking down barriers—suggesting that sincere prayer can overcome obstacles and gain access to divine mercy or favor.
Spiritual Force
Prayer is depicted not as passive or gentle, but as a dynamic, even disruptive, force capable of piercing the heavens and demanding a response.
Boldness in Supplication
Encourages boldness and persistence in spiritual practice, implying that determined prayer is not timid but powerfully assertive.
Historical Symbolism
A 'petard' was an explosive device used to breach fortifications, a vivid metaphor in the 17th century for dramatic breakthroughs. The proverb leverages this martial image to capture the extraordinary potency attributed to sincere prayer.
Literary Resonance
Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest' references the piercing effect of prayer, aligning with this proverb’s theme. The language of forceful entry dramatizes the intensity and impact of spiritual appeals in early modern literature.
Psychological Dimensions
Frames prayer as an active assertion of desire and hope, addressing the human need to believe that their petitions can overcome the apparent distance or silence of the divine.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
Explicitly likens prayers to petards, making the metaphor vivid and memorable.
Imagery
Employs dramatic visual imagery (breaking open gates, explosive entry) to evoke the powerful effect of prayer.
Alliteration
The 'p' sounds in 'prayers,' 'petards,' and 'pierces' (in the Shakespearean citation) add rhythmic emphasis.
Transcription
Quotations
The prayers of the Saints ascending with you, will Petarr your enterances thorow Heavens Portcullis.
Shakespeare Citations
My ending is despair Unless I be reliev'd by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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