Tired

"We never know how high we are” by Emily Dickinson (circa 1870)

Like “Tired,” this poem uses simplistic, disarming language to address complex issues. “Tired” features common words like “beautiful” and “kind” to symbolize the world the speaker wants to bring about, while Dickinson’s poem uses “the sky” to represent the potential and limitations of humans. As with the speaker in “Tired,” the speaker in Dickinson’s poem assumes the reader is on her side, shown through the plural pronoun “we.”

“This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams (1934)

In Williams’ poem, fruit represents a personal moment between the speaker and someone he is close with. Although the subject matter differs sharply, both “Tired” and “This Is Just To Say” rely on precise images and plain language. Williams was associated with the Imagist movement, and he was not against writing about politics because he, too, contributed to New Masses.

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes (1951)

“Harlem” is one of Hughes’s better-known poems. It regularly appears in anthologies, and it features many of the elements in “Tired.” Both poems ask the audience questions. In “Harlem,” the speaker wants to know, “What happens to a dream deferred?” (Line 1).