“Instructions on Not Giving Up” is a 14-line free-verse poem, meaning that it is without rhyme or defined meter. Most sonnets are 14 lines, but traditional sonnets written in the English, Italian, or French style are written in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter means that a single line of verse contains five metrical feet, each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Also, English, Italian, and French sonnets have a defined rhyme scheme of end rhyming, while Limón’s poem does not. There is a form called the American sonnet, which is a free-verse poem of 14 lines, and “Instructions on Not Giving Up” might fit this, but the form as a defined form is hotly debated.

The poem is a lyric poem, meaning that it is driven by emotion rather than narrative. The images lead into each other, but there are no specific characters or outward storyline here. The poet relies on observation and the emotions that this observation conjures, using the personification of nature to enhance her point about resilience.