Analysis Of Poem To Be Of Use

In “to be of use,” uses figure of speech. To convey that people that work really hard and never quit will get what they want in life.
The poet uses metaphor in line 1 2 and 3 comparing swimmers in a meet to hard working people. The speaker states, “Jump into work head first -- / without dallying in the shallows.” Swimmers in swimming meets jump head first into shallow water when the gun sounds off. Swimmers in meets do not just go through the motion and jump in the pool slowly. The swimmers try their hardest to jump as fast as they can and time the gun perfectly. The people that the poet loves are the people that try their hardest at what they do, like the swimmers do when they start on the block.
In addition to metaphor, the poet also uses