Point of View

The point-of-view of the poem’s speaker is closely aligned with that of its author, given that the speaker seems to act as a kind of proxy for the author. Yet, the distinction is worth making in part because readers should understand that, in writing this poem, Reynolds is able to make conscious choices allowing him to portray himself in a particular light.

In For Every One, the author portrays himself as a likeable friend to the reader, someone with a bit more experience than the reader but with no obvious accomplishments that readers would interpret as “making it.” In fact, the author goes to great lengths to insist that he has not “made it,” and that, moreover, he no longer has a strong interest in “making it.” By repeatedly claiming that he has not “made it” (despite having a poem published), the author aligns...