Chapter 3.4 - The Will to Win
The poem defines for us exactly what the will to win is. It goes on to describe that if you want something so badly that you are willing to work hard day and night for it and give up your time, peace, and sleep for it, then you are definitely passionate about achieving it. If you give up all fear of all kinds of opposition to it and happily work hard for it and plan for it, you will surely get it.
If you use your capacity and determination to continue achieving your goal and put in all your faith and hope, be confident about achieving your goal, and you will surely achieve it. If sickness, poverty, hunger, or physical and mental pain don’t deter you from your goal, and if you are firmly determined to go for it, then God will help you achieve it.
Title: The Will to Win
Poet: Berton Braley
Rhyme scheme:
The poem is free verse. It has not any rhyming words or rhyme scheme.
Favourite line:
My favourite line from the poem is, “If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, work day and night for it” as it tells us what we should do to achieve our goal.
Theme/Central idea:
In this poem, the poet teaches us to have the will to win, come what may. The poet, through this poem, motivates the readers to think, plan, and work out the plan to achieve success.
Figures of speech:
The poet has used many figures of speech to beautify the poem. They are Alliteration, repetition, Climax, Antithesis and Tautology.
Special features:
The special feature of the poem is that each stanza begins with ‘lf’. The structure of the poem symbolizes that to achieve success, we have to fulfill some conditions.
Why I like the poem:
I like this poem because it motivates us and tells us that perseverance is the key to success. The title of the poem itself suggests that there are some preconditions for success.
scheme : plan
fret : worry, be anxious
sagacity : wisdom and good judgement
pertinacity : constant determination
famished : extremely hungry
gaunt : very thin especially from disease, hunger or cold
grim : serious, unhappy
Warming up!
1. Get into pairs, discuss and tick the most appropriate answer :
(a) You may have lost the match; but
(i) It is important that you start fighting with your opponent.
(ii) It is important to have the will to win.
(iii) It is important that you blame the organizers for the rough ground.
Ans: Option (ii) : It is important to have the will to win.
(b) Success is always measured by :
(i) Ability to pounce upon at the opponent and fight with full force.
(ii) Match fixing before the match begins.
(iii) Ability to bounce back after a fall.
Ans: Option (iii) : Ability to bounce back after a fall.
(c) For attaining success; we need to :
(i) Sleep day in and day out and dream about success.
(ii) Scheme out things to make the opponent fall.
(iii) Work hard day and night for it.
Ans: Option (iii) : Work hard day and night for it.
2. How can we achieve success in life? Complete the boxes by filling the essential qualities required for achieving success.
Ans:
3. Discuss and write 5 proverbs / quotations related to the importance of having a strong will-power.
Ans:
(a) Where there’s a will, there is a way.
(b) If you have a dream don’t just sit there. Gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone unturned to make it a reality. (Rooplean)
(c) If freedom is short of weapons, we must compensate with will power (Adolf Hitler)
(d) Most of life’s actions are within our reach, but decisions take will power. (Robert McKee)
(e) There is no such thing as great talent without great will power. (Honore de Balzac)
4. Complete the following table.
Make a list of great personalities of present and past who have achieved success in different walks of life. You can take help of your school library or search on the internet.
Ans:
ENGLISH WORKSHOP
1. (A) In order to achieve success the poet wants us to
(a) go for it and fight for it.
(b) lose our sleep and peace for it,
(c) scheme and dream about it,
Ans: Option (c) : scheme and dream about it.
(B) Write as many phrases as you can using ‘enough’ and use them in your sentences.
Example : good enough
(1) long enough
Ans: The gown is long enough for a tall person like you.
(2) old enough
Ans: He is old enough to do the work on his own.
(3) fast enough
Ans: She walked fast enough to catch up with her friends.
(4) bad enough (from poem)
Ans: It is bad enough that he lost his job and now his child is sick.
(C) What does the word ‘Scheme’ mean here? Choose the correct alternative from the following.
(a) Housing colony
(b) Goal in life
(c) Rhyme pattern
(d) Plan of action
Ans: Option (d) : Plan of action
The word ‘scheme’ here means a plan of action.
(D) Do you think the line ‘Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it’ means that one should be ‘desperate’ or restless’ to achieve one’s goal. Explain your opinion, in your notebook.
Ans: I don’t think that the line ‘Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it’ means that we should be desperate and restless to achieve our goal. Restlessness is the outcome of our ardent desire to achieve our goal and not the means to achieve it. The line means that our desire to achieve our goal should be so strong that we are willing to sacrifice our sleep for it and it makes us so crazy that without achieving it, we cannot rest peacefully. So desperation and restlessness are more of a result of our passionate desire to achieve our goal rather than a deliberate attempt.
(E) Following lines are given to you. Find their appropriate meanings after discussing with your partner.
(a) To go out and fight for it.
Ans: to go ahead and achieve it through hard work and determination.
(b) If you gladly sweat for, fret for and plan for it.
Ans: your goal makes you go mad about it all the time.
(c) Lose all your terror of opposition for it.
Ans: become fearless.
(d) With all your capacity, strength and sagacity.
Ans: Go for your goal believing in your capacity, wisdom and judgement.
(F) Read the poem again and complete the web showing all those things that can turn one away from ones efforts towards a goal.
Ans:
(G) Find the lines from the poem which mean –
(a) become crazy for the goal
Ans: give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it.
(b) toil hard happily
Ans: If you gladly sweat for it.
(c) get rid of all fears
Ans: lose all your terror of the opposition for it
(d) make efforts continuously
Ans: work day and night for it.
(e) extremely poor condition
Ans: If neither cold poverty, famish or gout.
2. The poet has mentioned some hurdles in the poem that keep us away from achieving our goal in our life. Discuss with your partner and make a list of all the hurdles mentioned in the poem.
Ans: sickness, hunger, physical pain, mental pain / stress, poverty.
3. The poem explicitly describes some strengths and weaknesses with the help of some words and phrases. The poet wants us to possess all the strengths and keep away from all the weaknesses. Make a list of all the words and phrases showing Strengths in table A and Weaknesses in table B. One is done for you.
Ans:
With all your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and confidence and stern tenacity.
4. Listen to the poem carefully and state whether the following statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.
(a) If you want a thing you should not give up your sleep.
Ans: False.
Correct Statement: If you want a thing, you should give up your sleep for it.
(b) You should be afraid of your opposition.
Ans: False.
Correct Statement: You should lose all fear of your opposition.
(c) Cold or poverty cannot keep you away from achieving your goal.
Ans: True.
(d) You can achieve your goal with the help of God.
Ans: True.
(e) Life will not seem useless and worthless without achieving your goal.
Ans: False
Correct Statement: Life will seem useless and worthless without achieving your goal.
5. Form pairs and complete the web with suitable responses. Tell the class what all things the poet wants us to do to win.
Ans:
6. Match the phrases in table A with lines of the poem given in table B.
Ans: (i – c), (ii – d), (iii – b), (iv – a)
7. Every stanza begins with the word ‘if’. How does it add to the effectiveness of the poem?
Ans: The poem revolves around the importance of the will to win stressing that the will to win is the most important prerequisite to achieving success. The use of the word ‘if in the beginning of each stanza defines for us the extent of passion required to excel in life. The poet uses the same word ‘if’ to advise us what will help us reach our goal. Hence, ‘if’ in the beginning of the stanza effectively lays down the condition to excel in life.
8. (A) In poetry, when words/ideas are arranged in an ascending order of importance, the figure of speech used is called ‘Climax’.
For example,
Man should work for his family, his country, but most of all for God.
Pick out two examples of ‘Climax’ from the poem.
Ans:
(i) If you gladly sweat for, fret for and plan for it and lose all your terror of the opposition for it.
(ii) If you simply go after that thing that you want with all your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and confidence and stern tenacity.
(B) When some words, in the line of the poem, express the same idea in different ways, the figure of speech used is ‘Tautology’.
For example,
…. happy and joyful.
…. motionless and still.
Pick out two examples of ‘Tautology’ from the poem.
Ans:
(i) life seems useless and worthless without it.
(ii) With all your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and confidence and stern tenacity.
(C) Pick out one example of the following Figures of Speech.
(1) Antithesis :
Ans: Work day and night for it.
(2) Alliteration :
Ans: of body and brain.
(3) Repetition:
Ans: If you gladly sweat for fret for and
plan for it.
9. Work in group and prepare and present a speech on ‘How to Achieve Success.’ (You may take help of the poem).
Ans: Respected Principal, teachers and my dear tenth graders.
A very good morning. I am grateful to the school for giving me this opportunity to talk to you. I take this opportunity to stand before you to share my views on how to achieve success. It is rightly said, ’Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.’ Your desires and actions today will define and shape your tomorrow. It is important therefore, to have a plan for a goal. Without a plan it is just a wish. The plan that you make should be realistic and not over ambitious. Know your limitations and be proud of your potential.
Secondly, it is important to fight the challenges that come your way with grit and determination. These challenges help us grow. Not giving up is the surest way to achieve success. Coupled with this, my dear friends, if you have a positive attitude towards life, you are halfway through. A successful person sees even the invisible. ‘If you can imagine it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand’ goes the famous quote. Remember that though the world has become competitive, it is important to keep sweet and not forget your morals and principles. For a clear conscience is the most comfortable pillow to sleep on.
Additionally, success is a mix of social, physical, emotional and mental well being. Success is defined by your happiness. If you are happy, you are successful but if you are successful you need not necessarily be happy. So do all that makes you happy: keep in touch with your closed ones, be compassionate and humble. Success is not a destination to be reached but a journey to be enjoyed. Put in your best, go for your goals, make it your living mission and although ‘at first people will ask you why you are doing it, in the end they will ask how you did it’. All the best for your board exams.
Thank you.
10. Read the poem again and write an appreciation of the poem ‘The Will to Win’ in a paragraph format. (Refer to page no. 5)
Ans: The title of the poem ‘The Will to Win’ by Berton Braley, reflects upon the desire in one to excel and considers it to be the most important quality. The poet elaborates on the theme through generous use of examples to explain what exactly the burning desire to achieve one’s goals does to one.
Written in a motivational tone, the poet drives home the message that ‘Nothing is impossible for the one who dares’. If your goal becomes your living mission and does not let you rest until you have achieved it then you are on the path to success. The poet assures us that hard work, determination, fearlessness and relentless efforts will make way for a successful tomorrow.
The poem has a beautiful structure with each stanza beginning with ‘if’ serving as a yardstick to measure our passion to get what we want. It also lays down the conditions for us to be victorious. The rhyme scheme “abbb” sets the mood of the poem which is optimistic. The use of Tautology such as ‘useless and worthless’ and ‘besize and beset’ aids in conveying the message effectively. Besides, figures of speech such as Repetition and Alliteration make the poem an enjoyable and rhythmic piece. The simple yet forceful language has the potency to inspire us and kindle in us the desire to go for our goals and win it no matter what! I liked the poem as it inspires us to put in our best. It deeply ingrained in us the belief that nothing is impossible for the one who works hard.
11. Project :
Make a list of Berton Braley’s collection of selected poems. You can take help of your teacher, library or search on the internet. Recite any one poem by Braley in front of the class.
Ans:
(i) Start where you stand
(ii) Success
(iii) Opportunity
(iv) The Old Top Sergeant
(v) The Will to Win
Start where you stand
– Berton Braley
Start where you stand and never mind the past,
The past won’t help you in beginning new,
If you have left it all behind at last
Why, that’s enough, you’re done with it, you’re through;
This is another chapter in the book,
This is another race that you have planned,
Don’t give the vanished days a backward look,
Start where you stand.
The world won’t care about your old defeats
If you can start anew and win success,
The future is your time, and time is fleet
And there is much of work and strain and stress;
Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,
Here is a brand new trial right at hand,
The future is for him who does and dares,
Start where you stand.
Old failures will not halt, old triumphs aid,
To-day’s the thing, to-morrow soon will be;
Get in the fight and face it unafraid,
And leave the past to ancient history;
What has been, has been; yesterday is dead
And by it you are neither blessed nor banned,
Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,
Start where you stand.