Analysis - Literary Terms
The Message
The message of the poem is that life without helping others around you is
worthless. There is a price to acting (first stanza) and failing to act (second stanza).
Only if you do good deeds for the community you "gain" the day.
On the
contrary, if you don’t do anything good or say some encouraging words to the
people around you, you waste your day. Our time is well spent only if it is
devoted to helping and encouraging other people, through a good deed or even a
good word.
A day spent helping people can be considered a really good day even
if you do one small thing to help someone in a tiny way, the day has not been lost
because of the joy you brought to another person.
However, if at the end of your
day, you can remember nothing that you did that was helpful or comforting or
compassionate towards another person, consider the
day lost because you had a golden opportunity to be a
better person and you missed it.
The Title
The poem is called "Count That Day Lost" because the poet wants us to think about all the things we did on any day. The title emphasizes the message of the poem. It is important that we do not waste our days and that we make sure we do good things for other people. If we didn't do something good for someone, then that day is lost.
In addition, the poet might call the poem Count That Day Lost to create suspense and wonder: What day does the title imply? The answer to this question is given at the end of the poem. If you had the opportunity to become a better person, but you missed it, for you this is "worse than lost".