Wait

"Little Sleep's-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight" by Galway Kinnell (1971)

One of Kinnell’s earlier poems, “Little Sleep’s-Head” is written in bleak language as Kinnell speaks to his young daughter. The work similarly engages with the dark reality of death, the fear of a life cut short, and the importance of fully experiencing life, while demonstrating Kinnell’s evolution as a poet.

"Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas (1951)

Dylan Thomas’s famous work engages with many of the same central themes as “Wait,” encouraging various groups of men to refuse death as long as possible and savor life until the last moment.

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” from Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5, lines 19-28 by William Shakespeare (1606)

There are many thematic and literary parallels between “Wait” and Macbeth’s famous soliloquy on hearing of his wife’s death. Kinnell’s poem can be read as a rebuttal to Macbeth’s grief-stricken lamentations on life’s meaningless and emptiness, the monotonous pace of days until the last moment of time, and the insignificant performance of life.

"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver (1992)

Published more than a decade after “Wait,” Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” takes a different approach to questioning how people spend their lives, what is meaningful and purposeful in a short lifetime, and—like Kinnell—engages with nature