I think the speaker does warn the reader to be careful concerning ideals in the poem's second stanza, yes. He describes the value of being someone who "can dream—and not make dreams your master." In other words, he does not want to see people become slaves to their dreams: dreams and ideals are wonderful, but it is also important for us to be flexible, and if we will not settle for anything less than our ideal, we can actually miss out on lots of good things.
There's a saying: don't let the perfect become the enemy of good. It means that when we keep striving for perfection, we aren't happy unless we reach it, even if what we do have is pretty great. This line seems to endorse that same sentiment. The next line extols the virtue of being the type of person who "can think—and not make thoughts your aim." Again, the ideal is not the point; the point is experiences and living. We must be careful not to make the ideal, either in hypothetical or in terms of our goals, our master or else we could lose out on a lot of other great (if not ideal) things.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
In the poem If—, does the speaker warn his reader to be careful in spite of ideals? Give two examples from the poem to highlight this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that thrive in diverse environments (such as the ocean, the soil, and the human body). Various bac...
-
Note that these events are not in chronological order. The story is told by the narrator, looking back upon her life. The first notable even...
-
It seems most likely you are asking about Michael Halliday's theories of language. He argues children have seven main functions they use...
-
Under common law, any hotel, inn, or other hospitality establishment has a duty to exercise "reasonable care" for the safety an...
-
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s long narrative poem "Christabel" presents the well-known theme of good vs. evil, but the poem ends with ...
-
Grover Cleveland is known as a reformer. The first Democrat elected after the Civil War, Cleveland has the distinction of being the only Pre...
-
The tension between the three world orders after World War II (1939–1945) manifested itself in territorial, economic, military, ideologic...
No comments:
Post a Comment