Understanding Failure
These poems explore the nature of failure, helping you to recognize and accept it as a part of life's journey, emphasizing its inevitability and the lessons it can offer.
Back to Table of ContentsPoet: Catherine Pulsifer
Failure can be tough,
The losses more than enough.
But stand up right away,
Smile and don't feel betray.
Though it may seem unfair,
Don't give up, don't despair.
The outcome ain't set in stone,
So stay strong and apply what is now known.
Let failure guide your progress,
New ways to assess.
Look at what has failed and ask
How do I move forward with this task?
So, never let failure take away
From your end goal don't stray.
Shed no tears but find the energy
Don't let failure be a penalty.
Poet: Julie Hebert, © 2011
In life we will have failures, always wishing we had waivers,
To take back what we've just done.
So take some time, to sit and unwind,
So you can see what you've learned from.
It may be something small, maybe even smaller than a doll,
Something that not everyone else would see,
But the important part is, that you take the quiz,
To learn something that's within thee.
So why don't we just let, failures be the threat,
Because failure is more than just that.
If we can allow ourselves to see, that failure is a key,
Our next attempt may have a better chance at.
So start to change your mind, that a failure can be kind,
If we allow ourselves to learn from it.
No more shall a failure bring, unhappiness to him
As it's now one less failure to submit.
Poet: Catherine Pulsifer
In failure's crushing blow we find our strength to grow,
Experience in its wake from which to learn.
None can guarantee destiny plays no prank,
Never let go of failure lessons earned.
No man ever succeeds on his first attempt;
Roll with the haymakers and do not despair.
Even if you stumble on the way you went,
Look back and see – truly failure's best thing there!
Poet: Catherine Pulsifer
Failure is a bitter pill to swallow,
But embedded within is hope for tomorrow,
Conflicts may arise, testing our might,
Yet failure fuels the fire to set things right.
With each stumble and misstep, we take,
Conflict confronts us, our foundations quake,
But accepting failure as a chance to learn,
We find the strength within to overturn.
From the ashes of defeat, resilience springs,
Conflict's challenge ignites our hidden wings,
We rise above, refusing to remain,
Trapped within the prison of fear's domain.
Failure is but a stepping stone,
To an eventual triumph yet unknown,
For conflict in the face of failure's reign,
Only strengthens our resolve to rise again.
"A Chance To Learn" reminds us that facing failure is a part of the journey. Yeah, it might sting a bit, but embedded in those setbacks is the potential for a brighter tomorrow. Conflicts and hiccups might test your mettle, but guess what? They're your secret allies in the journey of growth. Don't let them be roadblocks; see them as stepping stones. Read more poems about conflict.
Poet: Edgar A. Guest
Failure is ceasing to try!
‘Tis accepting defeat
And to all you may meet
Giving voice to a sigh;
‘Tis in thinking it vain
To attempt furthermore
And in bowing to pain
When the muscles grow sore.
Failure is stepping aside
From the brunt of the fray
In a weak-hearted way,
Being content to abide
In the shadows that fall,
And in being afraid
Out of life, after all,
Nothing’s left to be made.
Failure is thinking despair,
The forsaking of hope,
And refusal to cope
With the day’s round of care.
It’s in heeding the cry,
All is lost! and to stay
With defeat and not try
For the happier day.
Poet: Unknown
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand
And chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn
That kisses aren't compromises
And presents aren't promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman or a man
Not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build all your loads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in midflight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if
You ask too much.
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting for someone to buy you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn.
With every failure you learn.
Related: Poems About Defeat
Overcoming Failure
Poems that focus on the resilience and determination required to rise above failure, offering encouragement and strategies for overcoming setbacks and continuing to strive for success.
Back to Table of ContentsPoet: Catherine Pulsifer
Look not upon your failures and their hurdles high,
Take courage for this time, for the time shall pass by,
Do not be discouraged if you're stuck in a bind,
Observe what is before you, and gather your mind.
Learn from the mistakes that taught us not to fret,
Grow onwards ever onwards with each hard fought step.
Your inner strength and wisdom will now be tested true,
With courage and confidence set off anew.
Poet: Catherine Pulsifer
If at first, you don't succeed,
Take a deep breath, wipe away your tears,
Don't let failure shake you off your feet.
Achieving goals, at times, is no easy feat.
Fear not the outcome, stand proud and tall,
Lift yourself up for another try and above all,
No matter how hard it might be,
Never give up because success you may see!
Poet: Catherine Pulsifer
The many dreams I had, I did aspire,
But failure crashed and did conspire.
Yet a failure, dear friend, is no defeat,
Unless we give up and choose to retreat.
Don't accept failure’s embrace,
Focus on resilience, let it replace
The doubts or fears in your mind
Learn from mistakes so success you'll find.
Poet: David V. Bush
There's no such thing as failure
To him who fights when down;
For just as light comes after night,
Success will failure crown.
There's no such thing as failure
To those who mean to stand.
Each failure hard he's turned the card
Success, and won the hand.
They only think it's failure,
And that's why they've not won;
If they'd think right, keep at the fight,
Success would surely come.
There's no such thing as failure;
Repeat this every day
"I'm bound to win, thru thick or thin,
Success is mine, I say."
There's no such thing as failure
Unless you want it so;
With steady nerve, you never swerve,
Success is sure, tho slow.
There's no such thing as failure!
Repeat, "I'm bound to win,"
Do not complain; affirm again,
"Success, doth now begin."
There's no such thing as failure!
Push on and make it flee.
God helps the man who says, "I can.
Success is meant for me."
Poet: John Kendrick Bangs
Now failures are, as I conceive,
No things to weep o'er or to grieve,
But beacon lights to warn us when
We sail too near the rocks again;
Or, better, spurs to urge us on
To surer enterprise anon.
He is a sage who scales the heights
On failures made by other wights,
Provided in his quest for pelf
He's not already failed himself;
And he who hasn't — well, I guess
He'll never know how sweet success
Can be to him who from a crash
Emerges stronger for his smash.
Poet: Edgar A. Guest
I'm not the man to say that failure's sweet,
Nor tell a chap to laugh when things go wrong;
I know it hurts to have to take defeat
An' no one likes to lose before a throng;
It isn't very pleasant not to win
When you have done the very best you could;
But if you're down, get up an' buckle in -
A lickin' often does a fellow good.
I've seen some chaps who never knew their power
Until somebody knocked 'em to the floor;
I've known men who discovered in an hour
A courage they had never shown before.
I've seen 'em rise from failure to the top
By doin' things they hadn't understood
Before the day disaster made 'em drop -
A lickin' often does a fellow good.
Success is not the teacher, wise an' true,
That gruff old failure is, remember that;
She's much too apt to make a fool of you,
Which isn't true of blows that knock you flat.
Hard knocks are painful things an' hard to bear,
An' most of us would dodge 'em if we could;
There's something mighty broadening in care -
A lickin' often does a fellow good.
Related: Don't Quit Poem
Learning from Failure
Poems that highlight the value of failure as a powerful teacher, showing how setbacks can provide important insights and guide future efforts toward improvement and eventual success.
Back to Table of ContentsBy Clifford Greve
To believe the song of the failures
In a land where good men have won
Is casting your lot with the losers;
And doing what they have done.
To listen and learn from the winners,
Is winning yourself — their stake!
You need not fear the advice you hear
But beware whose advice you take!
Poet: Edgar A. Guest
You think that the failures are many,
You think the successes are few,
But you judge by the rule of the penny,
And not by the good that men do.
You judge men by standards of treasure
That merely obtain upon earth,
When the brother you're snubbing may measure
Full-length to God's standard of worth.
The failures are not in the ditches,
The failures are not in the ranks,
They have missed the acquirement of riches,
Their fortunes are not in the banks.
Their virtues are never paraded,
Their worth is not always in view,
But they're fighting their battles unaided,
And fighting them honestly, too.
There are failures to-day in high places
The failures aren't all in the low;
There are rich men with scorn in their faces
Whose homes are but castles of woe.
The homes that are happy are many,
And numberless fathers are true;
And this is the standard, if any,
By which we must judge what men do.
Wherever loved ones are awaiting
The toiler to kiss and caress,
Though in Bradstreet's he hasn't a rating,
He still is a splendid success.
If the dear ones who gather about him
And know what he's striving to do
Have never a reason to doubt him,
Is he less successful than you?
You think that the failures are many,
You judge by men's profits in gold;
You judge by the rule of the penny--
In this true success isn't told.
This falsely man's story is telling,
For wealth often brings on distress,
But wherever love brightens a dwelling,
There lives; rich or poor, a success.
Poet: Patience Strong
When your dreams have failed you -
Dream again...
When you think you're beaten -
Dream again...
Failure cannot break your heart -
Life's a game, so play your part -
Dare to make another start.
Dream again...
Next time you'll be stronger - wiser too -
Think of all the things you meant to do -
Keep the glory of the goal in view -
and dream again...
Do not heed the world, its taunts and jeers -
Lift your eyes and face the coming years -
All great things are bought with human tears -
So dream again.
Failure Quotes
Poet: Catherine Pulsifer, ©2020
If failures you have none
If mistakes you have not one
Then living you are not
You're living in the same spot.
You see to get ahead
You must live, not play dead
Some risks you may have to take
You have to live life awake.
Failures you will see
Some may not be pretty
But learn from them and then go on
Success is not stumbled upon.
We all make mistakes
But let that give your head a shake
Start again with new knowledge
It will put you above the average.
So let your failures teach you
The one thing that was the issue
With determination and persistence too
You will find success in what you do!
Related: Try Try Again Poem
