# Desperation explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator laments a life wasted in futile struggle against fate, haunted by remorse and specters of hate, and cries out for rest and peace, expressing a willingness to give up everything except life itself.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Regret

The narrator's days are wasted and nights filled with remorse, longing for death but clinging to life.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker of the poem, expressing despair and exhaustion.

## Key lines

> My days all are wasted in vainly Contesting the field against Fate; My nights with remorses insanely Are swarming, and spectres of hate.

My days are wasted fighting a losing battle against fate, and my nights are filled with maddening remorse and hateful ghosts.

_The narrator describes a life of futile struggle and torment._

> To be dead, to be dead, I’d give gladly All, all that I have, except life.

I would gladly give everything I own to be dead, except for my life itself.

_A paradoxical cry: willing to surrender all but life for the peace of death._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/desperation
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters