Poem 1 - Expect Nothing by Alice Walker

Expect Nothing

by Alice Walker

Expect nothing. Live frugally

On surprise.

become a stranger

To need of pity

Or, if compassion be freely

Given out

Take only enough

Stop short of urge to plead

Then purge away the need.

Wish for nothing larger

Than your own small heart

Or greater than a star;

Tame wild disappointment

With caress unmoved and cold

Make of it a parka

For your soul.

Discover the reason why

So tiny human midget

Exists at all

So scared unwise

But expect nothing. Live frugally.
On surprise.

Analysis

                In the poem, Expect Nothing, Walker talks about the theme of satisfaction and happiness. For example, Walker mentions," Wish for nothing larger Than your own small heart Or greater than a star ", which suggests one must not seek things they cannot achieve or accomplish. Such actions result into dissatisfaction and disappointment as stated by Walker - " Tame wild disappointment ". The mention of disappointment clues the readers to avoid dissatisfaction to attain true happiness from the simplicity in thoughts. Walker also uses metaphor in the poem to compare one's heart as small while the star as large in lines 11 - 12. In addition, the use of personification on disappointment - "Tame wild disappointment" , where the word "disappointment" is given qualities of animals  - tame (undangerous) and wild (dangerous) - it means to control the unbearable disappointment. Moreover, another example of personification is " a Parka for your soul ", where soul is given human characteristics of wearing a hood to avoid cold - the personification means to protect the soul from pain and suffering. Literary devices like metaphor and personification helped me in identifying the message from make comparisons and analysing through the human characteristics or qualities poured into non-living things like the soul or the word "disappointment" to make sense of the feeling of the author.

            Now making connections to myself on this topic, I am very passionate and always set higher goals than my reach. For example, I expected to get a really high grade - about 95% -  in my computer science course in grade 11, but happened to me that I got 90% and even with that great of a mark, I was not satisfied and felt a feeling of guilt. That's exactly what Walker is talking about in this poem - Don't expect too much from yourself or others. Life is just not about profit or loss - it is the sum of all the joy moments experienced during one's lifespan - the more of them, the more you have lived your life.  Therefore, I can connect to what Walker is saying from my personal experience of grief arising from high expectations from my life.

            Walker with her amazing creation is trying to send out a message to her readers of not expecting anything from life and just living it the way it is and having fun from it. I believe Walker is referring to the commotion of humans around the world for money and popularity and showing them another path of gaining real happiness than virtual happiness from money. The poem is to direct the individuals misguided into the problems of money and success and make them realize what they are really missing out on - the beauty of the nature. Someone would write this poem to help the busy world think for a moment upon what they are doing - Is it right or not? It sets out a purpose of spreading happiness that is lost from most of the people nowadays from their busy schedule.

             I agree with Walker's perception as life is beautiful and is granted to us to access the beauty of the nature and have pleasure from it. However, we humans take it to the extreme limits and sometimes make our lives hell. In lines 7 - 9, Walker talks of just using resources that are sufficient to survive and sacrifice the unwanted feeling of luxury that strangles humans into an addiction of acquiring them for ease of life. I believe high expectations from life will make us reluctant in that small thinking and we will miss out on the small yet interesting moments of life. For example, the sunrise or the sunset or even the full moon night when the moon is the brightest object in sky surrounded by tiny stars. These experiences can be gained by anyone who is beyond the ideology of expecting something from life. The poem by Walker is greatly designed to inspire the greedy who are aimlessly running after money and missing out from the real meaning of life.