The poet, Edgar Guest’s “Have you Earned your Tomorrow”, is a thought provoking composition. The title itself pushes our mind to wonder if today we have done something useful.
It urges the reader to be thoughtful in everyday life about the people around them. The poet puts forward questions. Each question forces us to ask ourselves if we are kind, unselfish, patient and thoughtful. In our everyday rush, to live our life only for our own benefit, we forget to consider the people nearby who may be less fortunate.
There is interrogation in eleven lines of the sixteen-line poem. The language is simple. There is alliteration and rhyme. The poem has four stanzas of four lines each. The first stanza has four lines, each having fourteen syllables. The second, third and fourth stanzas also with four lines, have fifteen syllables each.
The clear message of the poem is one’s life is meaningful only if it is useful for humanity at large. The poet says one’s conscience has to know that your existence is justified. Or one cannot feel he has the right to ask for one more day of life.
It is an uplifting poem. We can take the message and begin implementing it in our life immediately and every day.