Myself

Edgar Albert Guest

Edgar Albert Guest’ poem “Myself” is among his some 11,000 poems, which were syndicated in some 300 newspapers and collected in more than 20 books.

Edgar Albert Guest was born on 20 August 1881 in Birmingham, England, and he died on 5 August 1959 in Detroit, Michigan, US, at the age of 77.

Guest was a British-born American poet who became known as the People’s Poet. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life.

External links:

Errata:

At 1:10: “…I never can…”

Posted: 10 June 2023

Word length: 163

Video length: 2:13

I have to live with myself, and so, I want to be fit for myself to know. I want to be able as days go by, Always to look myself straight in the eye; I don’t want to stand with the setting sun And hate myself for the things I’ve done.

I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf A lot of secrets about myself And fool myself as I come and go Into thinking no one else will ever know The kind of person I really am, I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect, I want to deserve all men’s respect; But here in this struggle for fame and wealth I want to be able to like myself. I don’t want to look at myself and know That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me; I see what others may never see; I know what others may never know, I never can fool myself and so, Whatever happens, I want to be Self-respecting and conscience-free.

Previous readings

Four Sonnets: IV

Edna St. Vincent Millay

“I shall forget you presently, my dear, so make the most of this, your little day, your little month, your little half a year, ere I forget, or die, or move away…”

Posted: 6 June 2023

Piano

D. H. Lawrence

“Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; taking me back down the vista of years, till I see a child sitting under the piano…”

Posted: 3 June 2023

I, too

Langston Hughes

“I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong…”

Posted: 30 May 2023

Hills like white elephants

Ernest Hemingway

“The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun…”

Posted: 27 May 2023

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