Strength
I dare sit quietly and think! I dare to challenge hurtful thoughts To do their worst to my poor heart; I dare to set my grief apart, Above all Earthly pain—and think!
Anna M. Johnson
SourceLicence:Public domain (US, unrenewed)
I dare sit quietly and think! I dare to challenge hurtful thoughts To do their worst to my poor heart; I dare to set my grief apart, Above all Earthly pain—and think!
Four times in five short lines, the speaker says "I dare." That repetition is the heart of "Strength." Sitting quietly and thinking sounds like the easiest thing in the world, but here it takes courage, because the thoughts waiting in the silence are painful ones. The speaker doesn't run from them. Instead, she invites them to "do their worst" to her "poor heart," a phrase that sounds both vulnerable and defiant at once.
The turn comes in the fourth line, where she sets her grief "apart, / Above all Earthly pain." We aren't told what the sorrow is, and the poem doesn't need to say. What matters is the stance: she isn't denying the hurt, but she is refusing to let it swallow her. The final line returns to where she began, "and think!", now with an exclamation mark that feels like triumph. The mood is steady, determined, and quietly brave, a small act of resilience.