Print-friendly poem
← Back to Find a poem to recite · Reader / work page ·
Self-Pity
D. H. Lawrence · 1929
Catalog grade guidance: 6–12 — Very short lyric; fruitful from middle school up with guidance on lament vs. self-pity.
4 content lines · 26 words · Est. recitation about 14 sec (approx.)
Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Internet Archive pansies0000davi: Pansies (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929).Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.