Count That Day Lost

stanza 1

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went
Then you may count that day well spent.

The woman in the picture is sitting on the beach at sunset. This is already the end of her day, maybe it was a well spent day or maybe a wasted one. For me she seems pleased and happy . Therefore, her day must have been successful. She relaxes while listening to the waves in the sea, she sits calmly and thinks about what happened to her during the day, the generous deeds she did and the happy things that happened to her. In addition, I believe that the best end to an excellent day is watching the sunset. This view of a setting sun in many colors gives a feeling of optimism for the next day.

“If you sit down at a set of sun and count the acts that 

you have done…”

 First,The sunset, the end of the day, which we see in the picture is the time to think about everything that happened from the moment we woke up, to understand if we did enough kind deeds to say that today was well spent. This act of self-reflection is one of the things the poet wants to emphasize with the help of time. Secondly,the picture describes the setting of the poem. 

In the picture I chose there are two people holding together a big heart. The picture was drawn by the artist Keith Haring. From my point of view, the picture symbolizes love. The two people are equal since they look the same however, one of them holds the heart with both hands and the other with only one.The person who holds the heart with both hands gives it to the other person, this is a symbol of the kind deeds and joy he gives him. According to the poem if you have done one deed that made others happy, you can consider the day well spent.Therefore the person in the picture can consider his day well spent since he brought love to the other person, together their hearts are even bigger and brighter.

stanza 2

But if, through all the livelong day
You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay
If, through it all
You’ve nothing done that you can trace  a
That brought the sunshine to one face
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost
Then count that day as worse than lost.

In the picture there is a person sitting on the floor with his eyes closed and doing nothing. There are many ways you can interpret his action, for example- maybe he was sick and wanted to sit for a moment,  or maybe he left this apartment and sat on the floor because he has no chair or even maybe he just wanted to sit on the floor and relax for no special reason.

 In my opinion, this man is sitting there for no particular reason and just thinking about all the things he could have done right now. He seems a little bit tired and bored, then, maybe this is how he had spent his day long- by doing nothing. 

In the poem “Count That Day Lost” George Eliot says: “If, through it all, You’ve nothing done that you can trace”… “Then count that day as worse than lost.”

 The picture connected to the poem because of this quote, the poet says that if you find yourself at the end of the day searching in your brain for anything special you have done today and find nothing,  you can say that it was a wasted day. To my mind this is exactly the situation the man in the picture is in, even though I can judge him without knowing his story I believe that this is what is passing his mind at the moment.

Small kid giving flowers to an older woman who looks really happy about it, this is what we can see in the picture. The little kid might be her daughter/ son or maybe her student, either way they seem happy and loving each other. The color yellow is extremely noticeable in the photo which presents their happiness and the care for each other.  Moreover, they put a smile on their faces to one another and it looks like they are cheering each other with this lovely smile. 

The picture shows completely the opposite that is written in the second stanza of the poem “Count That Day Lost”. “You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay” 

“That brought the sunshine to one face”. In the poem the poet says that if you haven’t raised a smile on someone’s face or made anyone happy today then it is a wasted day. Therefore, the picture is the opposite of what the quotes are saying because both of them are smiling and cheering each other up.

picture 1

https://honeybunnytwee.com/a-message-from-miranda/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-message-from-miranda

picture 2 

http://www.gilposters.co.il/showfullpic.aspx?id=2795

picture 3

https://www.google.com/search?q=person+doing+nothing&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjTif2Lm8z7AhVZkf0HHVrtAmIQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=person+doing+nothing&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECAAQQzoICAAQgAQQsQM6BwgAELEDEEM6BggAEAgQHlC6HVirjgFg-5EBaAJwAHgAgAHAAYgB4BeSAQQwLjIzmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=YDeCY9PZKtmi9u8P2tqLkAY&bih=648&biw=1280#imgrc=PIcRKYPn5uRJrM

picture 4

https://images.app.goo.gl/Ljbm8ti9C9efbM147