Compare and Contrast

English 11 In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting "Gracious Goodness", by Marge Piercy and "To Have Succeeded", by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both these poem provided different meanings to be succeesful. Most people think having money or being famous is the key to being succeesful, but that's not the case.

In "Gracious Goodness", by Marge Piercy, the author talks about this person helping a bird who had a barbed hook in them. So the person kindly borrowed a pair of clippers and got the hook out of the bird. In this peom the meaning to success is to help others that are in a difficult condition. Near the end of the poem the author asks “Why is there nothing I have ever done with anybody that seems to me so obviously right?” (24-26) This hints that the author has never done anything out of her own will. Success is defined by kindness.

In the poem "To Have Succeeded", by Ralph Waldo, the author talks about leaving the world a little better and that making positive differences is not easy. The author is trying to explain there are many different definitions to success and it's not always that easy to accomplish even the easiest goal. Success comes from caring and compassion.

In conclusion so many people think it's the fame and money that brings success to them but that is defiantly not the only ways to feel successful. Kindness, caring, and compassion and so many other different things that arent even that huge can bring you great success. In these two poems it explains, everyone has a different example of being