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help annotating this poem please
I need help annotating this poem please. If there are any literary devices you notice please leave an answer. Thanks!
Selfishness
Search history, my boy, and see
What petty selfishness has done.
Find if you can one victory
That little minds have ever won.
There is no record there to read
Of men who fought for self alone,
No instance of a single deed
Splendor they may proudly own.
Through all life's story you will find
The miser—with his hoarded gold—
A hermit, dreary and unkind,
An outcast from the human fold.
Men hold him up to view with scorn,
A creature by his wealth enslaved,
A spirit craven and forlorn,
Doomed by the money he has saved.
No man was ever truly great
Who sought to serve himself alone,
Who put himself above the state,
Above the friends about him thrown.
No man was ever truly glad
Who risked his joy on hoarded pelf,
And gave of nothing that he had
Through fear of needing it himself.
For selfishness is wintry cold,
And bitter are its joys at last,
The very charms it tries to hold,
With woes are quickly overcast.
And only he shall gladly live,
And bravely die when God shall call,
Who gathers but that he may give,
And with his fellows shares his all.
Edgar Albert Guest
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Some hopefully helpful notes:
Third person form, abab rhyming pattern, metaphors describing the negatives of selfishness "For selfishness is wintry cold," yet soon contradicting with the hope of success of belief in christian religion, "And bravely die when God shall call,
Who gathers but that he may give,
And with his fellows shares his all."
Targets a young male auidence "Search history, my boy, and see", man to man advice on war?
1881-1959 poet's life time, old fashioned, dated piece of literature.
Edgar Guest began his career at the Detroit Free Press in 1895, where he first worked as a copyboy. He was soon promoted to police writer and later to exchange editor, and in 1904 he began writing verse for the Free Press under the heading "Chaff."
Above is the sort of thing I included in my a-level exam and coursework. I have a high grade English A-level and hope some of the above is of help to you. Try and pick out any themes you see cropping up for example 'weather' can be linked with 'wintry cold' and 'quickly overcast'.
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