Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsSong of the Road
I am a Road; a good road, fair and smooth and broad;
And I link with my beautiful tether
Town and Country together,
Like a ribbon rolled on the earth, from the reel of God.
Oh, great the life of a Road!
I am a Road; a long road, leading on and on;
And I cry to the world to follow,
Past meadow and hill and hollow,
Through desolate night, to the open gates of dawn.
Oh, bold the life of a Road!
I am a Road; a kind road, shaped by strong hands.
I make strange cities neighbours;
The poor grow rich with my labours,
And beauty and comfort follow me through the lands.
Oh, glad the life of a Road!
I am a Road; a wise road, knowing all men’s ways;
And I know how each heart reaches
For the things dear Nature teaches;
And I am the path that leads into green young Mays.
Oh, sweet the life of a Road!
I am a Road; and I speed away from the slums,
Away from desolate places,
Away from unused spaces;
Wherever I go, there order from chaos comes.
Oh, brave the life of a Road!
I am a Road; and I would make the whole world one.
I would give hope to duty,
And cover the earth with beauty.
Do you not see, O men! how all this might be done?
So vast the power of the Road!
Overview Short Summary
Wilcox turns a road into a symbol of life direction. It fits goals-in-life keywords because every goal needs a path, and every path can connect people, duty, hope, and beauty.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Direction in life: The road leads on and on toward dawn.
- Purpose: The road brings order, connection, duty, and beauty.
- Progress: The poem imagines movement away from desolate places toward better life.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is expansive, optimistic, and purposeful. The mood is forward-moving because the road keeps calling the world to follow.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Road, ribbon, meadow, hill, hollow, dawn, strong hands, green Mays, and beauty symbolize movement toward a better future.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated “I am a Road” gives the poem a clear guiding rhythm.
What I Live For
I live for those who love me,
Whose hearts are kind and true;
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For all human ties that bind me,
For the task my God assigned me,
For the bright hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.
I live to hail that season,
By gifted minds foretold,
When man shall live by reason,
And not alone by gold;
When man to man united,
And every wrong thing righted,
The whole world shall be lighted
As Eden was of old.
I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true;
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the cause that needs assistance,
For the wrongs that need resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.
Overview Short Summary
Banks gives a clear answer to the purpose-and-goals question: life is for love, duty, hope, justice, service, and the good a person can do.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Purpose and goals: The poem defines life by service, love, and duty.
- Future goals: The speaker lives for the future in the distance.
- Meaningful success: The goal is not gold alone, but a world made better.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is sincere, noble, and purposeful. The mood is uplifting because the poem gives life a clear reason.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Heaven, human ties, bright hopes, reason, gold, Eden, cause, wrongs, future, and good symbolize a life directed by service.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated opening line makes the poem feel like a personal mission statement.
Gitanjali 35
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Overview Short Summary
Tagore’s poem is about a collective goal: a world of courage, truth, reason, knowledge, freedom, and tireless striving. It is useful for goals in life because it turns a dream into a moral direction.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- High ideals: The poem imagines a fearless, truthful, free society.
- Striving: Tireless striving stretches toward perfection.
- Purpose: The speaker asks to be led forward into wider thought and action.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is prayerful, visionary, and noble. The mood is inspiring because the goal is both personal and social.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Fearless mind, free knowledge, narrow walls, clear stream, desert sand, and heaven of freedom symbolize an ideal future.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated “Where” creates a series of goal statements leading to the final prayer.
Count That Day Lost
If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went—
Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day,
You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay—
If, through it all
You’ve nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face—
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost—
Then count that day as worse than lost.
Overview Short Summary
Eliot’s poem turns daily kindness into a measurable life goal. A day is successful when it helps, cheers, or brightens another person.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Daily goals: The poem asks the reader to review each day’s actions.
- Meaningful purpose: Kindness becomes the standard for a well-spent day.
- Student-friendly lesson: The poem is clear, short, and easy to apply.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is moral, simple, and direct. The mood is thoughtful because the poem asks the reader to evaluate each day.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Set of sun, counting acts, sunshine, one face, and lost day symbolize the daily measure of purpose.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The two-stanza contrast makes the lesson easy to remember.
Hope On, Hope Ever
Sow afresh! be not dishearten’d,
Though thy works have suffered blight—
Though the glorious sky has darken’d,
When it look’d most fair and bright:
Sow afresh! be up and doing!
Let the earth receive the grain!
Thou shalt have the joy of knowing,
Life has not been spent in vain.
Overview Short Summary
Burn’s poem is a compact goal-setting poem about beginning again. When past work has failed, the speaker says to sow afresh and keep doing meaningful work.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Trying again: The poem tells the reader to sow afresh after disappointment.
- Future goals: New grain suggests new effort and a future harvest.
- Hope: The goal is to know that life was not spent in vain.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is encouraging, brief, and energetic. The mood is hopeful because failure is answered with renewed action.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Blight, darkened sky, grain, earth, sowing, and harvest symbolize renewed effort after setbacks.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated call to “Sow afresh” makes the poem motivational.
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