Expecting Thee...

The bar is set high above thee
The distance seems to be achievable
Wonder sets in on how others begin to see
That the one in front seems to be improvable

Falling short on the sets of standard
The timid attempt to strive for it once more
Realization occurs, when the head collided hard
With the floors, thee will not be like once before

Who is at fault for setting the bar so high?
Is it thy critic or thy self who is liable?
A person like thee cannot reach such a sky
As thee takes a flight, face is in denial

This is a burdensome proposition
When we cannot live up to expectation









Essay: Expecting Thee…


I wrote this sonnet because I always feel that I need to live up to expectations. And when I don’t do what was expected, it seems that the other party is disappointed. Expectations could deal with many things like: sports, school and parents… they just seem to be everywhere. Not only do I experience this particular feeling, but so do others and I wanted this sonnet to relate to those around me.
I open my sonnet with the line “The bar is set high above thee”. I wanted to make sure that the reader has an image or like the feeling of a burden upon thee. In my mind, I imagine the gymnasium and the high bar above my head. The line “The distance seems to be achievable” is also suppose to let the readers have a picture in their minds. The thoughtful meaning of this line is that there still is a chance that you will reach that bar and prove yourself. By then my mind has drifted off into trying to capture the sight of the high bar with it within my reach but my third line in the sonnet “Wonder sets in on how others begin to see” also paints an audience of a crowd watching me thinking “That the one in front is improvable”. The last line explains that ‘thee’ can improve in some way. I think improvement applies to a certain extent.
“Falling short on the sets of standard” is another way of saying “Thee did not live up to expectations”. I tried to avoid using the word: expectation in the sonnet because I wanted it to all click together in the end. But the first line should be kind of a hint for the reader once read over. If you ever lose in a game, you begin to feel an adrenaline rush to play the game over with the determination to win. But in this case you don’t know what to expect because you don’t know what the other party would think of you, still yet ‘thee’ continues to reach out to the high bar… “The timid attempt to strive once more”. “Realization occurs, when the head collided hard With the floors, thee will not be like once before” Realization comes over to ‘thee’ as thee falls. Thee begun to realize that “thee will not be like once before”.
“Who is at fault for setting the bar so high?” This line questions to whom is at fault.
“Is it thy critic or thy self who is liable?” narrows down to who set the bar so high. Not only do people like parents, teachers, and mentors have expectation but as an individual we have them. “A person like thee cannot reach such a sky” is like a subtle metaphor where the bar is as high as the sky. When you feel like you only can try with a blind attempt to what is expected is expressed in this line “As thee takes a flight, face is in denial”. This also gives the reader another visual image.
I think that my sonnet at first is hard to read until it’s revealed on what it is about in the end. I describe expectation, as “This is a burdensome proposition”. It is a burden when someone thinks that you could’ve done better on something or improvement. I finally reveal what I’m talking about in the final line “When we cannot live up to expectation”. I do hope that this sonnet can relate to others who read it because I feel that I expressed how they feel in some way.