Please Listen!

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To 'hear' means to simply receive sounds through your ears, while to 'listen' means to pay attention, understand, and be present without judgment or immediately trying to solve problems. The poem emph…

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Irrational means illogical, without any reason or base. In the poem, the speaker refers to 'irrational feelings' - emotions that may not seem logical but make sense when we understand what's behind th…

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The speaker does not want: 1) Advice or suggestions, 2) To be told why they shouldn't feel a certain way, 3) Someone to solve their problems for them, 4) Someone to do things they can do themselves.

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This refers to advice columns in newspapers where people write about their problems and columnists offer advice. The speaker is saying that advice is cheap and easily available everywhere, implying th…

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When someone does something for the speaker that they can and need to do themselves, it contributes to the speaker's fear and feelings of inadequacy. It makes them feel less capable and more dependent…

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The speaker says 'I can do for myself; I am not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.' This shows they believe in their own ability to handle problems, even if they're feeling l…

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When someone accepts their feelings as a simple fact, no matter how irrational, the speaker can stop trying to convince others and focus on understanding what's behind their feelings. This leads to cl…

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The speaker suggests that prayer works for some people because God is mute - He doesn't give advice or try to fix things, He just listens. This parallels what the speaker wants from human listeners: s…