Your Place

By William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

Didactic Poem
    Is your place a small place?         Tend it with care!--                     He set you there.     Is your place a large place?         Guard it with care!--                     He set you there.     Whatever your place, it is         Not yours alone, but His                     Who set you there.

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Poem Details

Language: English
Keywords: Public Domain
Source: Public Domain Collection
Rights/Permissions: Public Domain
Analysis & Notes:
This poem explores the concept of belonging and purpose through a series of interrogations. The speaker repeatedly asks if the reader's place is small or large, prompting an examination of one's perceived significance. The structure reinforces this questioning, using enjambment to create a sense of ongoing inquiry. The abrupt dashes and line breaks mirror the insistent, almost commanding nature of the speaker's voice. The repetition of He set you there in each stanza emphasizes the external force that has placed the reader in their current position, suggesting a preordained destiny. The poem's imagery is sparse, relying on the abstract concept of place to evoke a sense of existential uncertainty. The simple language and rhythmic cadence contribute to a tone of quiet authority, a measured yet insistent reminder of the reader's inherent connection to something larger than themselves. This connection is not merely geographical or physical but suggests a spiritual or divine purpose, as the final line declares the reader's place to be not solely their own but belonging to a higher power. The poem's ultimate message lies in the quiet affirmation that despite individual perceptions of scale or worth, each person occupies a significant space within a larger, pre-ordained design.

Understanding Didactic Poetry

A didactic poem aims to teach—offering instruction, moral guidance, or practical knowledge— while remaining fully poetic. Its art lies in making insight memorable through image, rhythm, and pattern.

Common characteristics of didactic verse:

  • Instructive Purpose: Conveys doctrine, ethics, craft, science, or life lessons—explicitly or by example.
  • Clarity & Structure: Organized argument or step-wise exposition; sections, headings, or repeated motifs can guide the reader.
  • Tone & Address: Often uses direct address (“you”), imperatives, or aphorisms; authority balanced with invitation.
  • Devices for Memory: Aphorism, parallelism, refrain, alliteration, and tight stanza design help ideas stick.
  • Form Flexibility: Appears in rhymed couplets, blank verse, quatrains, or free verse—whatever best serves clarity.
  • Examples & Analogies: Uses story, parable, or concrete images to embody abstract principles.
  • Art & Insight: Effective didactic poems teach without lecturing—poetry first, lesson through experience.

The goal is durable understanding: language shaped so that wisdom lands, lingers, and can be carried into practice.