"A Small Needful Fact" was written by American poet and professor Ross Gay in response to the death of Eric Garner, a Black man killed by a New York City police officer in 2014. Footage of the incident, which was ruled a homicide, along with a grand jury's decision not to indict the officers involved spurred widespread protests against police brutality, while Garner's last words, "I can't breathe," became an anti-racist rallying cry. Gay's poem alludes to these words as it discusses the "small needful fact" that Garner was once a horticulturist—and that the oxygen-producing plants he nurtured in life may have made it easier for others to "breathe."

• Read the full text of “A Small Needful Fact”

• “A Small Needful Fact” Summary

• “A Small Needful Fact” Themes

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    Racism and Injustice

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-15
  • 

    The Tragedy of Human Loss

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-15

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Small Needful Fact”

  • Lines 1-3

    Is that Eric ...
    ... Horticultural Department,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-9

    which means, ...
    ... continue to grow,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    continue ...
    ... touch and smell,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-15

    like converting sunlight ...
    ... us to breathe.

    

    

    

    

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• “A Small Needful Fact” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “continue to grow”
    • Lines 14-15: “like making it easier / for us to breathe.”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “Department, which”
    • Line 4: “perhaps, that”
    • Line 5: “perhaps, in”
    • Line 7: “which, most”
    • Line 8: “them, in”
    • Line 9: “grow, continue”
    • Line 10: “do, like”
    • Line 14: “food, like”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “put gently into”
    • Line 7: “plants,” “most”
    • Line 9: “continue to,” “continue”
    • Line 10: “to,” “what,” “plants”
    • Line 12: “pleasant to touch”
    • Line 13: “converting sunlight”
    • Line 14: “into,” “it”
    • Line 15: “to”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “means,”
    • Line 4: “hands,”
    • Line 5: “likelihood,”
    • Line 7: “likely,”
    • Line 8: “likelihood,”
    • Line 11: “creatures,”
    • Line 12: “smell,”
    • Line 15: “breathe.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “worked / for”
    • Lines 2-3: “Rec. / Horticultural”
    • Lines 6-7: “earth / some”
    • Lines 9-10: “continue / to”
    • Lines 10-11: “house / and”
    • Lines 13-14: “sunlight / into”
    • Lines 14-15: “easier / for”

  • Irony

    

    

    

    

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    Where irony appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-15

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “perhaps”
    • Line 5: “perhaps,” “in all likelihood”
    • Line 7: “some,” “most likely”
    • Line 8: “some,” “in all likelihood”
    • Line 9: “continue to”
    • Lines 9-10: “continue / to”
    • Line 10: “do,” “do,” “like”
    • Line 12: “like”
    • Line 13: “like”
    • Line 14: “like”

• “A Small Needful Fact” 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.

  • Needful
  • Eric Garner
  • Parks and Rec. Horticultural Department
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Small Needful Fact”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “A Small Needful Fact” Speaker

• “A Small Needful Fact” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “A Small Needful Fact”

• More “A Small Needful Fact” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Out Loud — "A Small Needful Fact" read by Kevin Young, the poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine.  

    • A Musical Collaboration — Ross Gay's "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" set to music by Bon Iver.

    • Ross Gay's Worldview — An interview with the poet in which he discusses the importance of joy.

    • Ross Gay on Robert Hayden — Gay and other poets discuss Robert Hayden's "Frederick Douglass," a poem that may have helped inspire "A Small Needful Fact."

    • Poetry and Anti-Racism — Recent collections that examine America, racism, and systemic injustice.   

    • More Poems by Ross Gay — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation. 

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