Just me by Tom Krause
Having a good opinion about oneself is a good thing as it builds a sense of confidence and helps one to remain positive. But having a poor opinion of others leads to a very narrow-minded mentality and as a result, can cause problems in life. One stops to grow and always blames other for his faults and this is the time when a person's growth stops. He starts living in a false world created by himself where he assumes himself as the king of the world, but never has the courage to face that world. Learning is a life long process and we must never hesitate in learning anything new as we all know learning has no age.
- READ THIS POEM -
-- Summary --
The theme of the poem "Just Me" by Tom Krause is about excelling in life and not possessing an ego because of it. The poem is about the development of being a player and a good human being. The poem tells us about the player, who has an ego and is under pressure to excel in his game. He says that such players cannot excel in their sport. In order to excel and be good at any sport, the player needs to overcome all sorts of pressures as well as discard his ego. Once the pressure is erased, the efforts can be seen in the performance of the players.
-- Explanation --
- 1st Para -
From the time I was little, I knew I was great
'cause the people would tell me, "You'll make it - just wait!
But they never did tell me, how great I would be
if I ever played someone, who was greater than me.
When I'm in the backyard, I'm king with the ball.
To swish all those baskets, is no sweat at all.
Explanation :
The poet here tells us that since childhood he had a sense of over confidence that he was very great. The people around him always used to tell him that he was the greatest of all. But the poet here regrets that they had never ever told him how great he would be. Now he realised that to be great one has to play or compete with someone greater than himself.
The opinion of those people made him feel important and superior. That is why he has such a great opinion about himself. The poet here tells us that he has immense confidence when he is playing basketball in his backyard with no opponent. He feels like he is the king of the backyard because there he used to play so well that putting the ball in the basket was the easiest task for him, without any effort he could swish all those baskets.
- 2nd Para -
But all of a sudden, there's a man in my face
Who doesn't seem to realise, that I'm king of this place.
So the pressure gets to me; I rush with the ball.
My passes to teammates could, go through the wall.
My jumpers not falling, my dribbles not sure.
My hand is not steady, my eye is not pure.
Here the poet is referring to his own face that he sees in the mirror, who made him realize that the poet is not the only king, he is the king till he is playing alone with no opponents. Now, the poet refers to the pressure or the stress of being in a match, where some people greater than him are there in front of him. The poet is under pressure since he's used to playing well with no opponents, but it's different when he's actually facing someone.
- 3rd Para -
The fault is my teammates - they don't understand.
The fault is my coaches - what a terrible plan.
The fault is the call by the blind referee.
But the fault is not mine; I'm the greatest, you see.
Explanation :
Now that it is a different situation when the poet is playing with someone else and is actually facing others with a lot of stress and tension. He reacts badly to the stress blaming the coaches, the referee and his teammates for all the faults. He was not realizing his own follies that he has created because of the pressure to win and prove himself the greatest. The poet is incapable of finding faults within himself, as since childhood he believed he could do no wrong and thus he resorts to blaming others for his mistakes.
- 4th Para -
Then finally it hit me when, I started to see
that the face in the mirror, looked exactly like me.
It wasn't my teammates who, were dropping the ball,
and it wasn't my coach , shooting bricks at the wall.
That face in the mirror that, was always so great
had some room for improvement, instead of just hate.
Here very soon the poet realised that the face in the mirror is he himself, and now he admits that the fault is not in others. Now, he could see his own faults and learnt that the pressure can never lead to success and would never help you grow. the poet realise that there is a room for improvement. He could play better and grow, once he stops blaming others for his failures.
- 5th Para -
So I stopped blaming others, and I started to grow.
My play got much better, and it started to show.
And all of my teammates, didn't seem quite so bad.
I learned to depend on the, good friends I had.
Now I like myself better, since I started to see
that I was lousy being great -
I'm much better being me.
Here the poet realized that the fault is his and there is a room for improvement. He could play better and grow, once he stops blaming others for his failures. So, he stops treating his friends badly and starts focusing on himself, finding his own faults and starts working to improve them. Once he takes the decision to be himself, it makes him work better in a team. He starts playing better. He not only plays well but also starts growing as a person in general.
-- Poetic Device --
Metaphor : The poet has used metaphor in the line-’…I’m king with the ball’ It is a metaphor as here the boy compares himself to a king.
Onomatopoeia : The poet has used this device in the line-’To swish all those baskets…’Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words evoke the actual sound of the thing they refer to or describe. The “boom” of a firework exploding, the “tick tock” of a clock, and the “ding dong” of a doorbell are all examples of onomatopoeia.
-- Word - Meanings --
- Backyard : yard (garden) behind the house/home
- Swish : to move quickly
- Jumper(s) : a knitted piece of loose clothing for the upper part of the body, with long sleeves and no buttons.
- Dribbles : to move the ball along with several bounces
- Lousy : awful; terrible
- Answer these questions with reference to the context :
Ans- The poet is referring to the stress of being in a match.
Ans- The poet is under pressure since he’s used to playing well with no opponents in front of him in his backyard. But it is different when he’s actually facing someone.
Ans- He reacts badly to the stress by blaming the referees, the coach and his teammates but not realising his own follies.
Ans- The poet is referring to his own face that he sees in the mirror.
Ans- The poet starts understanding that the fault is his, that there is a lot of room for improvement and he could play much better. He should stop blaming others for his mistakes
Ans- He stops treating his friends badly and starts focusing on himself. Now he has also stopped blaming others for his mistakes.
Ans- The poet had been pretending to be someone great since he had been told since a young age that he would excel. But he didn’t see the faults in himself.
Ans- The poet realised that by being himself he is able to understand his faults better and has worked on improving himself which helped him to grow as a human being as well.
Ans- Once he takes the decision to be himself, it makes him work better in a team and he starts playing better. He not only improves his game but also grows as a person in general.
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