We make a living by what we get, but we make alife by what we give. No act of kindness, no matter how small is everwasted. God loves a cheerful giver and thus it is not how much wegive but how much love we put into giving.I have learned to give notbecause I have much money but I know exactly how it feels to havenothing. No wonder God gave us two hands one hand is for helpingyourself and the other one to help others. After all, who has everbecome poor from giving?
We learn from the poem that as responsiblehuman beings in the society we have an obligation to help thedestitute and make a difference in their lives. No one is poor togive hence we can give in cash or in kind by assisting the poorthrough the God-given talents of offering essential services thatwill enhance their standard of living. The poem clearly depicts thatchoices have consequences. If a person accumulates wealth for his orher own selfish gain without helping others it is evil and willultimately land you to hell. However, if you obey God’s command bygiving faithfully to the poor you will leave an indelible mark in thesociety and good tidings will follow you and your descendants. Onecan therefore get a blessing or a curse depending on how he or sheuses money (Ajijola, 23)
The poem draws thrills of emotions when itelaborates how the disobedient financially able people who do notgive to help the poor in the society will burn mercilessly andcompletely in hell with no one to rescue them and not even Satan willgive a hoot since it will be their own undoing. The poem furtheraffirms that giving to the poor and needy is the most appropriatetrajectory any caring and obedient person should embrace that would“shame the devil” that would lead to Satan’s sad and solitarydeath. Consequently, if someone obeys God’s teachings of givinggenerously to the needy you will have everlasting God’s blessingsthat elicit emotions of joy, abundance and eternal happiness. Certainwords like “sad” and “alone” are adjectives that describetone, feelings and emotions. Furthermore, the use of exclamationmarks in the poem is supposedly meant to create strong emotions or ahigh volume of command that should not be ignored.
Poetrycan take numerous forms but constantly articulates a message in adistinctive way, often with tempo or rhyme .Thepoem is enriched with diverse insights, words of wisdom, imageriesand other stylistic features that depict the preferred impact ofassisting the poor with eventual abundant blessings and detrimentalconsequences that are drawn from accruing wealth for selfish gainwith no regard to the underprivileged in the society. There areimages of contracted words like e’er and ‘Sas stylistic features to stand for ever and is respectively in theirlong form. Syncope is theavoidance of the laidback vowels,syllables, letters or the consonants from the center of aword.Syncope is mostly used in poetry when writersfranticallywant toavoid a particular syllable from a word to synchronize the pattern ineveryline.
There are also deliberate uses of descriptivewords like alms in the poem that signify the virtuous act of givingto others in cash or in kind. Other words like “flare” and “core”are descriptive terms that demonstrates “burn with a rapidintensity” and “the crucial or the utmost essential part ofsomething”respectively. Essentially, some of the mostextremelycommunicative poetry is greatly descriptive and applieslanguage that generates images, tone, emotions andmoodsbey.Descriptive poetry isacknowledgedinevitably for expressing not just astory but for its profoundillustration of a human being, animal orinanimate entity.
There is also further use of symbolic stylisticfeatures inwords like “He” that is used to signify God.Incontrast the name Satan is meant to depict evil. Moreover,there isthe use of personification with phrases like “money burns” wheremoney is accorded human attributes .In addition,metaphors are alsoused in the poem in phrases like “the Lord laid down thiscornerstone”. Metaphors are often used in poems to make acomparison and offer the meaning of explicit words since theydeliver a more visual narrative of the name or idea
In addition, the use of exclamation marks inthe poem is apparently meant to command authority or generateover-emphasis that will cause the reader to appreciate thesignificance of the subject matter. Moreover, there is application ofconsonance as symbolized in the repetition of consonant sounds at theend of the stanza in the words that relatively rhyme like wealth vs.stealth, cornerstone vs. own, trick vs. stick,flare vs. care,corevs. ignore,paid vs. shade,curse vs. rehearse. The use ofconsonance creates the structure of poetry with a rhyming impact. Italso serves as an instrument that allows the poet to express a fineand dominant structure that generates a background for the themesessential in the poetry.
The poetry attains its objectives by viewing the world in a new waythat allows human beings receive rewards or punishment if they obeyGod’s commandments of giving to the poor. The act of assisting thepoor can make the world a better place to live in.Themeaning of life is to find your gift while the purpose of life is togive it away.Giving opens the way for receiving. Abundantblessings!(Ajijola, 34)
Works Cited
Ajijola, Adeleke Dirisu. Zakat, Or, Alms-giving: The Third Pillarof Islam. Delhi, India: Adam & Distributors, 2000. Print