Introduction
Arthur Franklin Fuller rarely begins with an abstract idea alone. He places the reader beside a busy road, near a winter fire, beneath a summer sky, or inside a difficult question about work, faith and human purpose. That plainspoken approach gives many of his poems the feeling of a direct conversation rather than a formal lecture.
The selections below gather the Arthur Franklin Fuller poems readers are most likely to search for, including What Are We Living For?, Do All You Can, What Is Man, Where Is Heaven, Cradle Song and A Summer Morning. The explanations focus on meaning, themes, imagery and form without repeating the same academic checklist after every poem.
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Life, Love & Faith
Selected Arthur Franklin Fuller Poems
Featured PoemsWhat Are We Living For?
“Is life worth living?” the workers ask,
As they go about their irksome task;
Each generation comes and goes,
And sees increase in Problem’s woes;
Within the factories, shops and mines,
Are faces seamed by Dearth’s sure lines;
These toilers’ homes boast comforts few,
In vain their bairns for culture sue:
What are they living for?
Look in upon the wealthy class,
Within their homes or as they pass
On boulevards, ’mid pomp and show,
Where poorer folk can never go;
How hard they seek for some new thrill—
Some way to pass the time until
Tomorrow works its way around—
Relief from boredom is transient found:
What are they living for?
But turn unto the happiest folk—
The middle class—they’ll hardly croak!
They have their share of joy and grief,
Success and failure—all are brief;
They earn enough for present needs—
More than enough, but worry breeds;
Yet looking back o’er years and days,
The woe, they say, their weal outweighs:
What are they living for?
Well—we were given life to learn
Great lessons, and the same to turn
To good account; the privilege ours,
To view and praise Jehovah’s powers;
To rise above environment—
In virtue always to augment;
When we shall gain perfection grand,
We’ll then be fit to understand:
What are we living for?
Till then, ’tis good for us with might
To hold the Truth—so much of light,
As comes to us from day to day—
To help somebody on his way,
By precept and example too,
Our humble part with conscience do;
And pilot others from the reef
Of Error; oft we’ve said with grief,
What are we living for?
Though wealth, position, fame be won,
They’re but a sham—when life is done,
The past goes by in swift review,
And gazing, one sees much to rue;
He who is useful—knows the Lord,
Renounces self, and loves His Word,
Who is loved of friends—who shirks no task,
Succeeds in life; and ne’er will ask:
What are we living for?
Overview Short Summary
“What Are We Living For?” examines workers, wealthy people and the middle class, finding dissatisfaction in every social group. The poem finally answers its repeated question by defining a successful life through learning, useful service, faith and help offered to others.
Interpretation Meaning and Central Argument
Fuller rejects both poverty and wealth as automatic measures of a meaningful life. Hardship can exhaust people, but comfort can also produce boredom and anxiety. Purpose appears when a person turns experience into moral growth and practical usefulness. The poem therefore shifts the question from “What do we possess?” to “What good do we do?”
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Purpose: A worthwhile life is connected with learning and service.
- Class and dissatisfaction: No economic group is shown as completely free from worry.
- Usefulness: Helping another person becomes a test of success.
- Faith: Spiritual understanding gives direction to ordinary effort.
Poetic Craft Refrain, Contrast and Tone
The repeated question acts as a refrain and gives each section a clear point of return. Fuller contrasts factories with boulevards, scarcity with luxury, and public success with inward regret. The tone begins as social criticism and ends as moral encouragement.
Do All You Can
Do all you can for those you ought to love—
’Tis thoughtfulness and service that best prove—
Awaken! realize each circled dial—
The worth of what ’tis yours to own a while;
Bring now your flowers, the praise so fitly said—
’Twill bless the living—cannot cheer the dead;
Let men deride your sentimental spell—
Stay calm and know that you are doing well.
Do all you can for her whom you should love—
Each fleeting opportunity improve—
Be gentle, kind and tender while you may;
Regrets cannot bring back this passing day;
And if she craves for admiration’s balm,
Deny her not, but lie without a qualm
If need be—such sin will God condone—
Her happiness will for that blot atone.
Do all you can for those you ought to love—
O rather be dumb than in haste to reprove—
About those blunders which you now deplore.
You’ll some day cry, “Come back and make some more!”
No harshness, just or unjust is forgiven
By self when death these ties for aye has riven;
O cherish those who love you—crave your love—
And God will smile a blessing from above.
Overview Short Summary
“Do All You Can” urges readers to express care while loved ones are still present. Praise, patience and practical kindness matter now; flowers and regret offered after death cannot repair affection withheld during life.
Interpretation Meaning and Moral Lesson
The poem’s best-known idea is simple: appreciation should not be postponed. Fuller is especially concerned with careless criticism and the false assumption that another opportunity will always come. The message is less about grand gestures than about daily tenderness and timely words.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Love in action: Affection is proved through attention and service.
- Mortality: Death makes neglected opportunities permanent.
- Regret: Harsh words may remain with the speaker long after a relationship ends.
- Appreciation: Praise is most valuable when the person can receive it.
Poetic Craft Repetition and Literary Devices
Each stanza begins with a version of “Do all you can,” turning advice into a refrain. The contrast between flowers for the living and flowers for the dead gives the poem its strongest image. Direct address, imperatives and rhyming couplets make it sound like urgent personal counsel.
What Is Man
I sat me down by the wayside
To watch the passing throng
And guess at the varied interests
That moved each one along.
I saw the young and simple
Who flirt in wanton glee—
The hurrying man of business
As serious as could be.
I sat me down by the wayside
To note the crowd and din,
Where haste keeps ever silent
The still, small voice within;
For minds that brim with conquest
Forget what is right and wrong—
And hearts that seethe with lustings,
Unreasoning, drift along.
Behold th’ approaching master!
With pompous ways supreme—
Perhaps he’s just created
A Universe, I ween!
Now, what is God beside him
Who struts so proud and chill—
Omnipotence is nothing
When one has Power to Will!
O vaunting, crumbling castle,
O sod that stalks so fine—
Where didst thou get thy power,
Thy intellect sublime?
Well friend, just let me tell thee
A Truth that thou shouldst know—
Thou mayst be wise and mighty,
But such had e’en to grow.
Now listen, self-fooled debtor,
And learn this lesson well—
There’s nothing so important
As keeping out of hell;
Too late thou mayst discover
Some laws must honored be—
No man has e’er escaped them;
To this thou must agree.
No thing was e’er created
By man, and man alone—
The very thought thou thinkest,
God gives thee now to own;
Conception is receiving
And fostering, law on law,
The thought which God created
And full fruition saw.
All Power that was, or is, sir,
Or may seem given birth,
Comes straight from God Almighty,
Be it in heav’n or earth;
Then be not quite so haughty,
But choose a lowly place—
Humility becomes us
Who live but by His grace.
Overview Short Summary
“What Is Man” begins with the speaker observing people in a busy public place. He notices distraction, ambition and pride, then challenges the powerful person who behaves as though ability were entirely self-created. The poem concludes that human intelligence and power remain dependent on God.
Interpretation Meaning and Religious View
The poem questions the idea of complete self-sufficiency. Fuller does not deny human ability; he challenges arrogance about its source. Observation of the crowd becomes a lesson in humility: achievement should not silence conscience or make a person forget dependence on powers beyond the self.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Human pride: Social power can produce an exaggerated sense of importance.
- Humility: The poem asks successful people to recognize their limits.
- Conscience: Noise, haste and ambition may silence inward moral awareness.
- Divine dependence: Talent and thought are presented as gifts rather than private creations.
Poetic Craft Satire, Metaphor and Structure
Fuller briefly uses satire when the proud “master” appears to behave as if he created the universe. “Crumbling castle” and “sod that stalks” reduce worldly pride to something temporary and mortal. Seven eight-line stanzas move from observation to confrontation and finally to instruction.
Where Is Heaven
Sure, Heaven is a state of consciousness:
Existing therefore wholly in degree;
Where God is, there is lasting happiness,
For all who love both right and equity;
E’en in this transient little world of ours,
There are so many deep and wondrous things—
So much to learn that’s quite beyond our powers,
Who dares fore-judge thy Heaven, thou King of kings!
In this short life, rejoicing, we have used
Each added power; with Him as we unfold,
With joy we’ll see God’s gracious gifts infused,
Eternal progress in ourselves behold;
For then as now, He’ll give to every one
More than he can in full appreciate;
We’ll own the friendships dear, on earth begun—
Renew old ties, no more to separate.
“But where is Heaven?” some doubting one inquires;
Shun idle talk—thy first concern should be
To know the Lord; to live as He requires,
Accept His Christ and strive the Truth to see;
“Believe and ye shall never die!” ’Tis writ—
Then know, the righteous merely taste of death—
The wicked suffer it. Sown in the pit,
The seed must die, to heed Life’s quickening breath.
“But where is Heaven?” some doubter still may ask;
’Tis that fair place where mansions are prepared;
Man enters in the outer courts to bask
In glory’s light when he no pains has spared
To get in harmony with Deity.
The overcomers leave this plane at once to go
To Life and Service—wholesome piety—
While others sleep a thousand years or so.
Overview Short Summary
“Where Is Heaven” answers a religious question in two ways. Heaven is first described as a state of closeness to God and lasting happiness; later it is also presented as a prepared place beyond earthly life. The poem emphasizes spiritual readiness more than geographical speculation.
Interpretation Meaning and Main Idea
The speaker repeatedly redirects curiosity about heaven toward conduct in the present. Knowing where heaven is matters less than living in harmony with God. Friendship, growth and service are imagined as continuing beyond death, giving the poem a hopeful rather than purely fearful view of eternity.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Heaven: It is understood as both spiritual condition and future dwelling.
- Preparation: Present choices shape a person’s relationship with eternity.
- Continuing growth: The afterlife is associated with progress and service.
- Reunion: Earthly friendships are expected to continue without separation.
Poetic Craft Question, Symbolism and Form
The recurring question “Where is Heaven?” gives the poem a conversational structure. The seed that dies before new life is a traditional symbol of resurrection. Four eight-line sections allow the answer to develop from inward consciousness to doctrine and future hope.
A Summer Morning
First along the eastern sky
A golden glow is seen—
Clouds and shadows speed away,
Grass and trees show green;
Flowers and other vegetation,
Yester-eve forlorn,
Stand erect—a glad oration
To the dew of morn.
Roosters make exultant call—
Heralds of the day—
Birds full-throated, glad with all,
Sing as song birds may;
Nature gives revivification—
Heaviness is gone—
Earth is glad with expectation,
With the approach of dawn.
Beautiful is this mundane sphere—
Best at early morn—
Lovelier in her virgin state,
Than aught which man can form;
Night-time hints of dissolution—
Day and hope are done—
Life and noble aspiration
Dawn with Morning’s sun.
Overview Short Summary
“A Summer Morning” follows the change from darkness to daylight. Plants rise beneath the dew, roosters and birds announce the morning, and the landscape seems renewed. Dawn becomes a symbol of hope and revived ambition.
Interpretation Meaning and Main Idea
The poem values morning because it makes the familiar world appear newly created. Natural renewal becomes emotional renewal: as shadows leave the landscape, heaviness leaves the mind. Fuller suggests that hope is not separate from the physical world but awakened by attention to it.
Nature Reading Imagery and Personification
- Color: Golden sky and green vegetation establish a bright visual opening.
- Sound: Roosters and birds act as heralds of the day.
- Personification: Flowers stand erect, the earth expects, and morning brings aspiration.
- Contrast: Night suggests ending, while dawn suggests life beginning again.
Poetic Form Structure and Tone
Three eight-line stanzas move from sight to sound and finally to reflection. The regular rhymes and short lines create a quick, awakening rhythm. The tone is fresh, grateful and optimistic.
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