Success, Courage & Exploration
More Berton Braley Poems
Featured PoemsThat’s Success
It’s doing your job the best you can,
And being just to your fellow man;
It’s making money—but holding friends,
And being true to your aims and ends.
It’s figuring how and learning why,
And looking forward and thinking high;
And dreaming a little and doing much,
It’s keeping always in closest touch
With what is finest in word and deed;
It’s being thorough, yet making speed;
It’s daring blithely the field of chance,
While making labor a brave romance.
It’s going onward despite defeat,
And fighting staunchly, but keeping sweet;
It’s being clean and it’s playing fair,
It’s laughing lightly at Dame Despair.
It’s looking up at the stars above,
And drinking deeply of life and love;
It’s struggling on with the will to win,
But taking loss with a cheerful grin.
It’s sharing sorrow and work and mirth,
And making better this good old earth;
It’s serving, striving through strain and stress,
It’s doing your noblest—that’s success!
Overview Short Summary
“That’s Success” defines achievement through a series of actions and qualities. Earning money is included, but it is balanced by friendship, fairness, learning, effort, emotional steadiness and service. The poem ends by measuring success through the nobility of a person’s conduct.
Interpretation Meaning and Definition of Success
Braley rejects a single financial measure of success. Good work matters, but so do relationships and character. A successful person can pursue ambitious goals, accept defeat without bitterness and leave the wider world better through service.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Character: Fairness and integrity are part of real achievement.
- Work: Success requires skill, thoroughness and action.
- Balance: Money, friendship, ambition and enjoyment must coexist.
- Resilience: Loss should be faced without surrendering hope or kindness.
- Service: Personal achievement should contribute to the world.
Poetic Craft Anaphora, Personification and Form
Most lines begin with “It’s,” a form of anaphora that makes the poem sound like a growing definition. “Dame Despair” personifies discouragement as something the reader can laugh at. Rhyming couplets keep the long list energetic and memorable.
Title Note Alternative Title: The Recipe
This poem is also circulated under the title “The Recipe,” because each line adds another ingredient to Braley’s definition of success. “That’s Success” is the more useful search title because it repeats the concluding phrase and avoids confusion with the separate 1916 poem originally titled “Success.”
Why Not?
Why shouldn’t the soul of a mortal be proud?
Life goes, it is true, like a swift-flying cloud,
But while it is going and ere he has died
A man may do many things worthy of pride.
The high and the humble, the meek and the brave,
Are all of them destined in time for the grave,
But while they are living and drawing their breath
They may create something that lives after death.
The Builder may build and the singer may sing,
The Painter may paint while his time’s on the wing;
And when they are buried deep down in the grime
The things they have made will remain for all time.
Man conquers the mountains, the seas and the air,
And deserts turn gardens while under his care;
He does wondrous deeds in the scant space allowed—
Why shouldn’t the soul of a mortal be proud?
Up out of the darkness we reach to the light,
And slowly through ages we toil to the height;
The soul of a mortal is more than his clay,
The spirit of man can defy all decay!
So lift up your eyes to the Truth that is God’s:
In spite of disaster, in face of all odds,
The spirit of Man is not wrapped in the shroud—
Why shouldn’t the soul of a mortal be proud?
Overview Short Summary
“Why Not?” accepts that human life is brief but argues that mortality does not make effort meaningless. Builders, singers, painters and other creators can leave work that survives them. The poem presents human pride as justified when it grows from creation and progress rather than empty status.
Interpretation Meaning and Central Idea
The poem answers a traditional warning against mortal pride by distinguishing arrogance from earned dignity. A person cannot escape death, but can use limited time to build, make, improve and pass something forward. Pride is therefore linked with contribution.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Mortality: Every social class eventually faces death.
- Legacy: Created work may continue after its maker is gone.
- Human progress: Civilization grows through sustained effort.
- Dignity: The human spirit is presented as more than physical life.
Poetic Craft Rhetorical Question, Symbols and Form
The title question returns as a refrain and frames the whole argument. The swift cloud symbolizes the shortness of life, while movement from darkness to light represents progress. Rhyming couplets give the poem a public, declarative sound.
A Little Further
The reason I never can quit the road
Is a reason that’s plain and clear:
It’s because no matter where I may stop,
And whether it’s far or near,
There’s a place beyond the place I am,
Wherever I may be at,
And then beyond is a place beyond,
And the world beyond all that!
And as long as a man has eyes to see
And a brain that wants to know,
I figure there’s things he’s bound to miss
If he doesn’t go on and go;
For there’s always a place beyond the place
I happen to hang my hat,
And another place beyond that place,
And the world beyond all that!
There’s some folks stay in a single spot
Or a town of which they’re fond,
And never worry a little bit
At the thought of a place beyond;
But the place beyond the place beyond
Won’t never let me rest,
For there’s a sort of a kind of urge
That’s burning within my breast—
To go and go till the end of life,
And when I’ve left it flat,
Go on beyond the place beyond,
And the universe after that!
Overview Short Summary
“A Little Further” describes a traveler who cannot remain satisfied in one place. Every destination reveals another place beyond it, and curiosity keeps the speaker moving. The journey finally expands from roads and towns to the universe itself.
Interpretation Meaning and Central Idea
The poem is about exploration as a state of mind. The road matters because it keeps knowledge unfinished. Braley contrasts people who find contentment in one place with a speaker whose curiosity turns every horizon into an invitation.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Curiosity: The desire to know prevents the speaker from stopping.
- Exploration: Each destination becomes the beginning of another journey.
- Restlessness: Travel is driven by an inward urge rather than necessity.
- Wonder: The ending carries the journey beyond earthly geography.
Poetic Craft Repetition, Voice and Humor
Repetition of “place beyond” recreates a horizon that continually moves away. Informal phrasing such as “hang my hat” and “sort of a kind of urge” gives the traveler an easy, conversational personality. The exaggerated final leap into the universe adds humor without weakening the poem’s curiosity.
Poet, Titles & Public Domain
Berton Braley: Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Berton Braley?
Berton Braley (1882–1966) was an American poet and writer known for direct, rhythmic verse about work, courage, invention, success and everyday conduct. Many of his poems first reached readers through magazines, newspapers, anthologies and collections aimed at a broad public audience.
What are Berton Braley’s most famous poems?
His most frequently searched and reprinted poems include “The Will to Win,” “Start Where You Stand,” “Opportunity,” “Do It Now,” “The Thinker,” “That’s Success,” “Why Not?” and “A Little Further.”
Which Berton Braley poems are motivational or inspirational?
“The Will to Win” emphasizes commitment, “Start Where You Stand” focuses on beginning again, and “Opportunity” argues that meaningful work remains unfinished. “That’s Success” adds fairness, friendship and service to the usual definition of achievement.
Is The Will to Win also called Success?
Yes. Braley’s 1916 collection Things as They Are prints the poem now commonly called “The Will to Win” under the title “Success.” Modern reprints often use the later descriptive title, so both searches may lead to the same poem.
Is That’s Success the same poem as The Will to Win?
No. “That’s Success,” also circulated as “The Recipe,” begins by describing good work and fairness and ends by defining noble effort as success. “The Will to Win” is a different poem built around the repeated condition “If” and a final promise of achievement.
What kind of poetry did Berton Braley write?
Braley often wrote accessible rhyming verse about workshops, labor, ambition, courage, friendship and practical ethics. His language is usually conversational, and many poems use refrains, lists and direct address to make their message easy to remember.
Are Berton Braley’s poems public domain?
The early editions and anthology texts used on this page were published before 1931 and are public domain in the United States. Berton Braley died in 1966, so copyright terms can differ in countries that calculate protection from the author’s death. Publishers should check the law that applies to their location and audience.
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