It is in the small things we see it.
The child’s first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.

Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
comver your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.

Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.

Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you’ll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you’ll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you’ll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Anne Sexton's poem Courage

24 Comments

  1. connor mccluskey says:

    it was okay

  2. Amanda Denure says:

    The poem was great.It touched my heart so much.

  3. Kimberly T Greene says:

    I enjoy this poem…What could it be saying everyone has many opions about it but most of all its outstanding how courage was broken down…..We as people never have courage to face the worst fear that Really scares them maybe the author’s fear was death and she wanted the courage to overcome it!!!!!!!!

  4. johanna says:

    it is interesting to judge courage, in this poem courage is not only standing up and dealing with obstacles that come your way, courage is also knowing when enough is enough.
    what takes more courage…to live a life of sorrow, or to end it ?
    who has more courage the one who goes thru with what will keep them at peace or the one who looks down and just takes the blows of life?

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