Poems exploring the theme of giving up offer a captivating subject for analysis. These verses delve into the intricacies of human emotions, revealing the delicate balance between hope and resignation.
By examining the nuances of surrender, these poems illuminate the fragility of the human spirit and its responses to adversity. They artfully encapsulate the depths of despair, the weight of unfulfilled dreams, and the complexities of accepting defeat.
Studying poems about giving up provides a valuable opportunity to analyze the rhetorical strategies, literary devices, and thematic elements employed by poets to convey the multifaceted human experience.
‘Dereliction’ by Chinua Achebe is an ambiguous poem in which three speakers elaborate on the action of, a probable consequence of, and probable pardon for, failing to fulfil one’s duties.
I quit the carved stool
in my father’s hut to the swelling
chant of saber-tooth termites
raising in the pith of its wood
a white-bellied stalagmite
‘On A Journey’ by Hermann Hesse is a poem that seeks to provide both comfort and solace to those who find themselves demoralized by life’s journeys.
Don't be downcast, soon the night will come,
When we can see the cool moon laughing in secret
Over the faint countryside,
And we rest, hand in hand.
‘Up in the Wind’ captures a public house history with the nature surrounding it, and how it impacts others.
I could wring the old thing's neck that put it there!
A public-house! it may be public for birds,
Squirrels and suchlike, ghosts of charcoal-burners
‘I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl’ by Emily Dickinson is a deeply melancholic poem that elucidates the ways in which people try to go on living when they’ve lost all love of life.
I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl—
Life's little duties do—precisely—
As the very least
Were infinite—to me—
‘Velocity Of Money’ by Allen Ginsberg uses irony and satire to make a powerful critique on the forces of capitalism.
I’m delighted by the velocity of money as it whistles through the windows
of Lower East Side
Delighted by skyscrapers rising the old grungy apartments falling on
84th Street
‘The Jewel Stairs’ Grievance’ (translated by Ezra Pound) by Li Bai captures the lovelorn yearning of a woman waiting for her lover late at night in a picturesque scene of melancholic beauty.
The jewelled steps are already quite white with dew,
It is so late that the dew soaks my gauze stockings,
And I let down the crystal curtain
And watch the moon through the clear autumn.
‘Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand’ by Walt Whitman presents itself as a declaration of how best to engage with the poet’s ardently intimate verses.
Whoever you are holding me now in hand,
Without one thing all will be useless,
I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,
I am not what you supposed, but far different.
Amidst the swamp’s trials, bones knock for foothold, revealing resilience, transformation, and growth through struggle.
Here is the endless
wet thick
cosmos, the center
of everything—the nugget
‘She rose to His Requirement – dropt’ by Emily Dickinson speaks to the lack of freedom and respect women had in Dickinson’s time. It emphasizes the confining nature of marriage and society’s expectations for a married woman.
She rose to His Requirement—dropt
The Playthings of Her Life
To take the honorable Work
Of Woman, and of Wife—
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