Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsTry, Try Again
‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again.
Then your courage should appear,
For if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear,
Try, try again.
Once or twice, though you should fail,
Try, try again;
If you would at last prevail,
Try, try again.
If we strive, ’tis no disgrace
Though we do not win the race;
What should you do in that case?
Try, try again.
If you find your task is hard,
Try, try again;
Time will bring you your reward,
Try, try again.
All that other folk can do,
Why, with patience, should not you?
Only keep this rule in view:
Try, try again.
Overview Short Summary
The poem teaches perseverance in simple direct language. It is especially useful for searches about character building poems and poems about self-discipline for students.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Perseverance: The repeated advice is to continue after failure.
- Courage: Failure should reveal courage rather than shame.
- Patience: The poem says time and effort can bring reward.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is simple, encouraging, and instructional; the mood is optimistic.
Craft Literary Devices
- Repetition: “Try, try again” makes the lesson memorable.
- Rhyme: The easy rhyme supports the poem’s direct teaching style.
Little Things
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.
So our little errors
Lead the soul away,
From the paths of virtue
Into sin to stray.
Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above.
Overview Short Summary
The poem shows how small actions build large results, whether good or bad. It is a simple character-building poem about habits, kindness, and moral direction.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Small habits: Little minutes and actions accumulate into lasting results.
- Kindness: Small loving words can transform the world around us.
- Moral responsibility: Small errors can lead the soul away from virtue.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is gentle and teaching, with a clear, child-friendly mood.
Craft Literary Devices
- Analogy: Drops and grains explain how small actions add up.
- Contrast: Little errors and little kindnesses lead in opposite moral directions.
The Arrow and the Song
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Overview Short Summary
The poem suggests that words, actions, and kindness can travel farther than we know. It fits character development because it shows how influence returns through friendship and memory.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Influence: Our words and actions may affect others invisibly.
- Friendship: The song returns through the heart of a friend.
- Responsibility: The poem quietly asks readers to consider what they send into the world.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is simple and reflective, creating a mood of quiet wonder.
Craft Literary Devices
- Symbolism: The arrow and song symbolize action and expression.
- Parallelism: The first two stanzas mirror each other to compare physical and emotional influence.
Polonius' Advice
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Overview Short Summary
This verse passage gives practical advice about speech, friendship, judgment, money, and honesty. Its best-known lesson is that truthfulness to oneself supports truthfulness toward others.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Integrity: The closing advice centers on being true to oneself.
- Self-control: The speaker warns against careless speech and rash quarrels.
- Wisdom: The passage values careful judgment and tested friendship.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is advisory and formal, with a mood of practical seriousness.
Craft Literary Devices
- Maxim: The passage uses memorable moral statements.
- Simile: Truth is compared to the certainty of night following day.
Mercy
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.
Overview Short Summary
The passage praises mercy as a higher form of strength than power or authority. It develops character through compassion, forgiveness, and justice guided by humanity.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Mercy: Mercy blesses both giver and receiver.
- Justice: The passage says power is best when justice is softened by mercy.
- Moral leadership: The strongest rulers are those whose hearts contain mercy.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is noble and persuasive, creating a mood of ethical seriousness.
Craft Literary Devices
- Simile: Mercy is compared to gentle rain from heaven.
- Contrast: The passage contrasts temporal power with moral mercy.
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