Deepen Understanding > My Wage: Rittenhouse

Instructional Strategy

• Questions & Cues

Learning Activity

• Deepen Understanding > My Wage: Rittenhouse 

In comment section,

1. Interpret the poem - what does it mean?
2. Is this believable?
3. How can you apply this to your life or future experiences?
4. +1 peer comments you believe are the strongest responses.

My Wage

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.

Jessie B. Rittenhouse

Jessie Belle Rittenhouse (1869-1948) was a literary critic and poet. In 1930, she was awarded the first Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement in poetry.