"From the Journal of a Disappointed Man" appears in Andrew Motion's 2009 collection The Mower: New and Selected Poems. The poem describes this man's observations of an ill-fated construction job, during which a work crew tries to drive a pile (support column) into a pier. The crew encounters a mysterious problem, gives up on solving it, and abandons the job. Much as the crew leaves the pile hanging "in mid-air," the incident leaves the speaker hanging—and the poem leaves readers hanging, demonstrating how real life often denies us the tidy resolutions we seek.

• Read the full text of “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man”

• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Summary

• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Themes

  • 

    Disappointment, Uncertainty, and Failure

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-44
  • 

    Labor and Social Class

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-44
  • 

    Masculinity and Social Expectations

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-32
    • Lines 37-44

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man”

  • Lines 1-5

    I discovered these ...
    ... long wire hawser.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-11

    Everything else was ...
    ... tight": all monosyllables.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-16

    Nevertheless, by paying ...
    ... a great difficulty.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    I cannot say ...
    ... the whole business.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    The man nearest ...
    ... crack of Doom.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    I should say ...
    ... and finally ceased.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-32

    One massive man ...
    ... what they saw;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 33-38

    though one fellow ...
    ... relieve the tension.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 39-44

    Afterwards, and with ...
    ... me of course.

    

    

    

    

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• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Symbols

  • 

    The Pile

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “I discovered these men driving a new pile / into the pier.”
    • Lines 4-5: “a wooden pile, a massive affair, swinging / over the water on a long wire hawser.”
    • Lines 23-24: “showed me that for all he cared the pile / could go on swinging until the crack of Doom.”
    • Lines 43-44: “That left / the pile still in mid-air, and me of course.”
  • 

    The Pier

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “I discovered these men driving a new pile / into the pier.”

• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-8
    • Lines 10-11
    • Lines 13-14
    • Lines 17-18
    • Lines 21-22
    • Lines 29-31
    • Lines 33-40
    • Lines 42-44

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “discovered,” “driving,” “pile”
    • Line 2: “pier,” “paraphernalia”
    • Line 3: “pulleys”
    • Line 5: “water,” “wire”
    • Line 9: “Speech,” “something”
    • Line 17: “what,” “one”
    • Line 18: “silent,” “subject”
    • Line 21: “nearest,” “still saying,” “nothing”
    • Line 28: “slackened,” “ceased”
    • Line 29: “massive man”
    • Line 32: “spoke,” “said,” “saw”
    • Line 34: “brown bolus”
    • Line 35: “he had”
    • Line 36: “slow,” “descent,” “same,” “depths”
    • Line 38: “smoked,” “cigarette”
    • Line 44: “mid-air,” “me”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “pile / into”
    • Lines 2-3: “paraphernalia / of”
    • Lines 4-5: “swinging / over”
    • Lines 6-7: “style / as”
    • Lines 12-13: “attention / to”
    • Lines 13-14: “working / on”
    • Lines 14-15: “tell / that”
    • Lines 18-19: “thought / at”
    • Lines 19-20: “indifferent / and”
    • Lines 21-22: “nothing / but”
    • Lines 23-24: “pile / could”
    • Lines 25-26: “hour / and”
    • Lines 26-27: “efforts / to”
    • Lines 29-30: “abandoned / his”
    • Lines 30-31: “rail / to”
    • Lines 33-34: “eyes / followed”
    • Lines 41-42: “incident / was”
    • Lines 43-44: “left / the”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-44

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “men,” “pile”
    • Line 4: “pile,” “massive”
    • Line 6: “massive”
    • Line 7: “the men,” “very,” “men”
    • Line 8: “very,” “silent,” “men”
    • Line 16: “men”
    • Line 18: “silent”
    • Line 20: “tired,” “tired”
    • Line 21: “man”
    • Line 23: “the pile”
    • Line 26: “the men,” “slow”
    • Line 29: “massive,” “man”
    • Line 32: “No one,” “no one”
    • Line 36: “slow”
    • Line 43: “the men”
    • Line 44: “the pile”

• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Pile
  • Pier
  • Paraphernalia
  • Hawser
  • Ruminative
  • Monosyllables
  • Crack of Doom
  • Slackened
  • Mystic
  • Bolus
  • Eclipse
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “I discovered these men driving a new pile”; Line 4: “a wooden pile, a massive affair, swinging”; Lines 23-24: “the pile / could go on swinging until the crack of Doom.”; Lines 43-44: “That left / the pile still in mid-air, and me of course.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Speaker

• “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man”

• More “From the Journal of a Disappointed Man” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poet's Life and Work — A biography of Andrew Motion via the Poetry Foundation.

    • An Interview with the Poet — Andrew Motion on writing and inspiration.

    • The Poet's Role — Andrew Motion discusses the poet's place in society.

    • More on the Author — Additional resources and media related to Andrew Motion, courtesy of the Poetry Archive.

    • Pile Driving and Piers — Watch a video of workmen (successfully!) setting up dock piles with a pile driver.

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