To view more poems I have examined, click HERE.
See It Through
by Edgar Albert Guest
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!
Even hope may seem but futile,
When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
See it through!
______________________
This poem by Edgar Albert Guest is an exhortation to be courageous and do the meaningful work in your life, regardless of the obstacles. Sometimes doing the thing is more important than whether your efforts succeed. You definitely can’t succeed unless you try. If you try, maybe you get lucky or maybe unexpected help will arrive. But even you fail, trying was the right thing to do.
Guest was a late 19th and early 20th century British American poet. His work – often optimistic and encouraging – was popular and he became known in his own time as “the People’s Poet.” See It Through is a 24 line poem, divided into three eight line stanzas (octaves.) The meter in each stanza is as follows: 4 beats, 3.5 beats, 4, 3.5, 4, 3.5, 4, 1.5.
The rhyme scheme isn’t consistent. Guest ends several lines with either “you” or “do” and “through” giving the piece a feel of rhyme and melody, but without an overtly structured one. In addition to repetition both of words, and of the line “see it through,” Guest utilizes other techniques such as alliteration (“face to face”, “head high”) and imagery (“black may be the clouds about you.”)
I really enjoy this poem. I hope you enjoy the dramatic reading of it that I found and will embed below.
