A Poet Who Deserves A Place In Your Library
Edgar Guest on the radio 1935
One of the best loved poets in America during the 1900’s was Edgar Guest. His ability to express the feelings and experiences that we all know is, as far as I have found, unsurpassed in the realm of poetry. Two of his books are among the treasured volumes in my library, and I always relish the time spent in them.
He captures aspects of humanity with such skill and cleverness that it is genuinely amusing to read. The very best way to describe his work is as an astute friend of mine once remarked:
“Edgar Guest is to poetry what Norman Rockwell is to painting.” ~S. M.
Both of them are masters at depicting, in their respective mediums, the feelings, hopes, and dreams of Americans and the idiosyncrasies that are common among us. One of Edgar Guests poems (just like one of Norman Rockwell’s paintings) is a piece that you can just sit there and study, a remarkable preservation of what our culture was like because it catches the spirit of of the people. His poems often are on themes of honor, friendship, character, manliness, family, small-town America, and humor.
I would recommend finding a copy of the handsomely bound antique “Collected Verse of Edgar A. Guest” to start your collection. It is a large collection of many of his poems, selected by himself, and the perfect introduction to this worthy poet.
Below are are two of Edgar Guest’s most loved poems: “Myself” and “Somebody Said It Couldn’t Be Done” “Myself” was a favorite of my Grandpa who always carried an old newspaper clipping of it in his wallet.
Myself
I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I’ve done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man that I really am;
I don’t want to dress myself up in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don’t want to think as I come and go
That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself—and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self—respecting and conscience free.
~Edgar Guest
Somebody Said It Couldn’t Be Done
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “couldn’t be done,” and you’ll do it.
~Edgar Guest