Personal Narrative Poetry Extension

See It Through

by Edgar 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!

The theme of my narrative is persevere through the hardships in life, and eventually, you will reap the rewards. The first place in my narrative that describes the theme is when I had played what I thought what was a good move, but instead turned out to be a bad move. Afterwards, I lost control of all my thoughts, and all I could think of was losing, and I could have given (or in chess, resigned) right there, but instead I kept playing and persevering on. The second place in my narrative that describes the theme is when chess club already ended, and I was still in a losing endgame with Joey. In that situation, I also could have resigned and went home, but instead, I chose to persevere on and keep playing. The final place in my narrative that describes the theme is the end where I get my reward, the candy bar. Because I persevered through  the whole game, even when I was losing, I was rewarded, showing that persevering through the hard times in life will pay off later. 

The theme of the poem I chose is to see everything through to the end. The first place where the theme is mentioned in the poem is the last two lines of the first stanza where it says, "You may fail, or you may conquer, See it through!". This line shows, that you should always see through, or persevere through your hardships because in the end, you never know if you'll win or lose. The second place where the poem mentions the theme is in the second stanza: "spite of all you can do, running from it will not save you". This line shows that not persevering and running away does not help you solve the situation, so you would be better off persevering. The final place where the poem mentions the theme is in the last stanza: you may fail, but fall still fighting...eyes front, head high to finish." This line shows that even if you fail, at least if you persevere through, you will fall fighting, being defeated by someone else, not by defeating yourself.