Analysis of The Paradoxical Commandments
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
Scheme | xa xA xa xA xa xa xa xa xa xa |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101010001000110 1110 1111101011110010010 1110 1110101111101100 0110 0111011101001 1110 100010111000 1100110 0101010101001011111010101010101 1110 1010101101011 11011010 1111101101101 110 1010111101111111 11010 10101110111001 101011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 904 |
Words | 178 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 69 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 15 |
About this poem
The Paradoxical Commandments are about finding personal meaning in the face of adversity and were written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders.
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"The Paradoxical Commandments" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/165605/the-paradoxical-commandments>.
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