Run ragged means to exhaust someone through constant demands, work, anxiety, or pressure. In poetry, the idiom gives tiredness a torn, frayed quality, as though the self has been worn into strips by repeated strain. It can describe parents, workers, carers, soldiers, servants, or speakers overwhelmed by modern pace. A poet may use it to show physical fatigue, emotional depletion, or social exploitation. The phrase is useful when ordinary busyness becomes a form of erosion.

Run ragged means exhaust someone through repeated demands, pressure, or activity. The ragged image suggests frayed cloth, worn edges, and depleted energy. In poetry, it can describe caregiving, parenting, poverty, work, illness, or emotional labour. Students should notice how exhaustion is made visible as torn material. It pairs well with hems, threads, laundry, errands, breathlessness, and the body’s gradual wearing away under obligation.