These poems delve into the intricate decision-making process, highlighting choices’ weight and consequences. They explore the turmoil of indecision, the fear of making the wrong choice, and the liberation of finally choosing a path.
Poets often employ powerful metaphors to illustrate the crossroads of life, the inner dialogue between heart and mind, and the transformative power of decisions. These verses offer insights into human nature, the complexities of navigating life’s crossways, and the courage to embrace the unknown and shape one’s destiny.
‘Kamikaze’ by Garland delves into a pilot’s conflict between duty and life, exploring the harsh societal aftermath of his choice.
The poem centres on one defining decision, which the pilot takes when they decide to turn back. It explores how such personal choices defy scripted heroism and carry lifelong consequences, not just for the individual but for those around them. Garland's poem does not take a definitive stance on whether the choice was the right one, further imbuing it with moral complexity.
Breaking away from Victorian diction, T.S. Eliot presents the distinct realities of his time in the stream of consciousness by experimenting with poetic form.
The entire monologue in the poem centers on Prufrock trying to decide whether and when he should ask the "overwhelming question" to a woman he likes. Prufrock cannot decide when to ask the question and is even unsure if he should ask. While contemplating his decision, he digresses into his fragmented thoughts that range from modern existence to time to mortality.
Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ explores life’s choices, opportunities, and the ensuing lingering regret of untaken paths.
The poem illustrates the challenge of decision-making, exacerbated by the nature of choice. Despite the speaker's attempt to gather information by scrutinizing one path, uncertainty persists even after making a choice. The continual mental oscillation between the chosen path and the alternative underscores the difficulty inherent in decision-making as it carries the weight of the future. This perpetual questioning and reflection encapsulate the intricate and arduous decision-making process amidst looming uncertainty concerning the consequences of choice.
“To be, or not to be,” the opening line of Hamlet’s mindful soliloquy, is one of the most thought-provoking quotes of all time. The monologue features the important theme of existential crisis.
In the poem, Hamlet wrestles with an enormous decision, struggling to choose between enduring life’s pain or seeking an end through death. His uncertainty about the right choice reveals how difficult decisions can feel when clouded by emotions and fear. Hamlet’s inner debate captures the struggle of making choices that hold serious consequences, showing how hard it can be to find clarity when facing life’s most challenging questions.
‘Maud Muller’ by John Greenleaf Whittier is a classic narrative ballad that recounts how the poor peasant, Maud, and an urban judge fantasize about getting married and living together. However, neither of them ever takes action, which fills their lives with regret.
Through this poem's narrative, the speaker explores the haunting regrets we can all feel after making a decision. Like Maud and the judge, we often neglect to take action when we feel constrained by our responsibilities, which can leave us with a lifetime of regret.
Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 14’ ‘Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,’ prophesies the end of the fair youth’s truth and beauty if they don’t procreate.
In this sonnet, the speaker attempts to convince the addressee to decide to procreate. Through prophesying the end of beauty and truth, the speaker tries to evoke a sense of fear and responsibility, emphasizing the significance and dire consequences of not making a timely decision to procreate, so that the addressee finally decides and stops procrastinating. Significantly, the poem rejects the idea of fate and presents the addressee's decisions as the sole makers of their legacy and the future of truth and beauty, indicating the importance of making decisions in life.
‘Sonnet 3’ is a Procreation Sonnet addressing Fair Youth while emphasizing the significance of procreation.
The speaker appeals to the Fair Youth due to his inability to decide on procreation. The closing line serves as a potent reminder of the potential consequences of inaction, urging the Fair Youth to confront his fears and make a decisive choice to ensure his lasting impact. The speaker seems worried that the Fair Youth may overlook the significance of timely decisions in procreation, underlining the importance of making informed decisions and fulfilling one's duty.
‘The River’ by Sara Teasdale narrates the poignant merging of the river in the sea from the personified river’s perspective.
The personified river likely is the metaphor for the universal human condition of disillusionment in the face of unpredictable life and irreversible decisions. It shows how one makes hasty decisions based on assumptions and hopeful expectations in naivety that lead to life-altering consequences, causing irrevocable loss, despair, and disillusionment. Thus, the poem might suggest making decisions cautiously with thorough deliberation of consequences to avoid the river's fate.
‘A Prodigal Son’ reveals how a mixture of desperation, shame, and longing leads a wayward child back toward a redemptive parental love.
The speaker's journey in the poem revolves around a critical decision to return home, the difficulty of which reflects the intensity of their internal struggle between pride and the need for reconciliation. First and foremost is the decision to return home, a choice fueled by desperation as well as the realization they deeply miss their father. In the end, the speaker resolve to approach their father as a servant, a decision that’s meant to be a meaningful rebuke of their selfish rebellion.
‘In Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement’ by S. T. Coleridge considers his home as a place of great beauty and a spiritual retreat away from society.
The entire poem revolves around a difficult choice. Coleridge struggles with whether to stay in his peaceful home or leave to do something more meaningful. He does not take the decision lightly, questioning if it is selfish to remain in comfort while others suffer. In the end, he decides to leave, believing that true purpose comes from helping others rather than staying in his own happiness.
After losing his dear friend in World War I, William Butler Yeats wrote this particular poem, ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death.’ Robert Gregory, an Irish Airman, was accidentally shot down by an Italian Aviator, who happened to be a dear friend of Yeats.
The airman did not join the war because of duty, law, or pressure from others. Instead, he made a personal choice, driven by an impulse. He does not regret his decision, even though he knows it will lead to his death. The poem shows how people sometimes make life-changing choices not because of responsibility or obligation, but because of a personal feeling or desire.
‘Have You Earned Your Tomorrow’ by Edgar Guest presents a number of probing questions to a reader about how they spend their days.
The poem quietly focuses on personal choices. Each question serves as a moment of pause, asking the reader to consider what they did or didn’t do. It does not name these moments as "decisions" outright, but every action mentioned, whether a kind word or a selfish act, is shaped by decision-making. This calm yet steady prompting gives the poem a thoughtful edge. Its strength lies in how it makes you reflect without sounding heavy.
Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?
‘Eurydice Speaks’ shares the aftermath of the Orpheus myth via the perspective of his lost lover and the contentment she eventually finds.
The speaker's decision to embrace the future and leave behind their embittered, fruitless past is an important element in the poem. Bhatt's poem essentially follows Eurydice as she contemplates the pros and cons of this choice, weighing her abandonment via the failed test of Orpheus with the possibility of a hopeful future. Her decision to stay in Maine is rooted in its beauty and the solace of the new love she has discovered there: "I want to stay here...I have found someone new."
‘The Voice of the Ancient Bard’ by William Blake explores the nature of truth and the perils of straying from a path of wisdom and clarity.
The poem warns that people often make bad decisions when they are lost in confusion. It shows how many have stumbled through life, unsure of where they are going. Some even try to guide others when they do not understand things themselves. The bard urges young people to choose wisely, listen to truth, and not fall into the same mistakes as those before them.
‘Spare’ appears in The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove. This poem describes an unfulfilled love affair of a speaker and her feelings concerning the relationship.
The poem also touches on the topic of making difficult decisions. The speaker is caught between her feelings and the reality that the relationship can’t work. She must decide to let go, even though she still has strong emotions for her partner. This struggle between what she feels and what she knows is best adds complexity to the poem’s emotional landscape.
Shoulder me up. Drink careless down, for flinching ask, break, call skimming, be slight then, be soon. Would, wire air back to you, would. Would wind you still, lift clear to you sitting. Sheeted around you
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