Have you ever felt unaccomplished? But then realized you can do it? The poem “Variation on a Theme by Rilke” was written by Denise Levertov. Denise Levertov was born on October 24, 1923 in Essex England. She married an American writer and became a U.S. citizen 11 years after moving to America. She became a part of a group of famous poets who have formed a school in North Carolina, succeeding she taught in Stanford University. Levertov uses her art of poetry in service of political ideas, tackling issues such as the Vietnam War and the nuclear arms race. She produced one of her most memorable works in the mood of rage and sadness which comes from her feelings toward the war and the death of her oldest sister. Nevertheless the hard times, there is always a bright light leading us to contentment. “By Rilke” is part of the poems title, some mistake it as the poet’s name, which is false, but why is it in the title? The poem was influenced by the early 20th-century German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, whom she claimed as a role model. The short poem is a lyric poem, it has a single speaker who expresses personal thoughts and feelings of a subject. Therefore the point of view of this poem is first person. This is shown through the uses of pronouns such as I and me. The first person point of view in the poem is crucial in its telling because the narrator describes how she is experiencing this day. The poem has two themes, the first theme is superiority. This is shown in “it leaned