Count that day lost

In the picture you can see a person sitting at the beach, looking at the sunset. It is difficult to say what the person is thinking or doing besides sitting down on the ground, since only their back is showing in the drawing, yet we can use our imagination. If I had to guess, I would assume that they went to the beach after a long and tiring day in order to find peace in the calm sunset and in the relaxing water. 

This picture represents the next line from the poem – “If you sit down at set of sun”. The person in the drawing is assumptively sitting “at the set of sun”, alternatively, it might be at the time of sunrise, for the sake of this explanation, we’d say it’s the set of the sun. The poet believed that at this time of the day, a person should sit down “and count the acts that you have done” –  review what they have done that day. This is supposed to lead them to considering the day as “well spent” or  as “lost”, depending on their actions. 

In the picture you can see a person helping another person to climb some sort of mountain.

The first person is struggling with climbing, which stops him from continuing his journey and the other person is the one who is holding out his hand and helping him overcome his struggle. This act of help probably changed the struggling person’s day, it made him feel like someone cares about him and his journey, and actually wants him to succeed. Additionally, Helping one another can be done in different ways, both  physically, like in the picture, and mentally. In our opinion, helping others always leaves a satisfying feeling. We have never felt unsatisfied after helping others.

This picture is a representation of this line from the poem – “Then you may count that day well spent”. Throughout stanza I , the poet describes how your day can be considered “well spent” if you do certain actions, for instance: if you do an act of self sacrifice, or said a word -”One self-denying deed, one word” that made the person who heard it feel better – “that eased the heart of him who heard ” you can count that day “well spent”. Helping one another is another form of action that a “well spent” day contains.

In the picture a checklist, or a “to do” list can be seen. The list consists of three “tasks” which are placed next to squares in which you’re supposed to mark the tasks when you’re done. This particular list consists of one thing, which is repeated three times – “ME”. It seems to us that the person who made this list is a self-centered person whose only interest is themselves. Moreover, we can see that all the “tasks” are marked as “done”, therefore, we are able to say that this person is truly focused on themselves. 

This picture is a representation of these lines from the poem – “No act most small” and “That helped some soul and nothing cost”. The meaning of these lines is that you’ve done nothing that day which helped someone for free, in other words: you acted selfishly. The poet believed that if you acted selfishly the whole day, then your day should be considered as “lost’ or “wasted”. 

In the picture you can see a drawing of an hourglass which has an appearance that fits the Victorian era, similarly to the time that the poem was written.The hourglass has details which add to his beauty. If you look closely, you can see that despite the elegant look of the hourglass, the hourglass is indeed broken. Why or what broke the hourglass is unknown. This picture has a symbolic meaning that can vary from person to person.

This picture represents the next line from the poem – “Then count that day as worse than lost”.

Throughout stanza II , the poet describes how your day can be considered “wasted” or “lost”, for example: if you can’t think of anything that you have done -”you’ve nothing done that you can trace”, that made someone smile – “that brought sunshine to one face” your day can be viewed as “worse than lost”. An hourglass is a device used to measure the passage of time, the hourglass in the drawing is broken which symbolizes the “lost time” or “lost day”.