A Psalm of Life

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(1807-1882)
 American poet, one of the
most popular and celebrated
poets of his time.
Born in Portland, Maine (then
in Massachusetts).
Longfellow received wide
public recognition with his
initial volume of verse, Voices
of the Night (1839), which
contained the poem A Psalm
of Life.
 As a writer, Longfellow is probably
the best loved among American poets
during his lifetime since his poetry
had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote
poetry with natural grace and melody
thats why his rhyme and meter cling
to the readers mind. He has been
called Americas household poet. He
wrote about themes which appeals to
all kinds of people.
 His poems are easily
understood and they get into the
consciousness of those who read
them because in them are joy,
optimism, and faith in the
goodness of life and God which
evoke immediate response in the
emotions of his readers. He died
on March 24, 1882.
A . Vocabulary Words
1 . mournful numbers 6. bivouac of life
2 . dead that slumbers 7. in the strife
3 . life is earnest 8. lives sublime
4 . time is fleeting 9. lifes solemn main
5 . muffled drums 10. forlorn brother
What is a Psalm?
What is it usually
about?
A Psalm of Life
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807-1882)
 Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
 Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

Find us farther than today.

 Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howeer pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act, - act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

Discussion
Questions
 A Psalm of Life
"A Psalm of Life" was first
published in the
Knickerbocker Magazine in
October 1838 when
Longfellow was 37 years old.
It also appeared in
Longfellow's first published
collection Voices in the Night. Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, his wife
Frances and their two
sons, circa 1849.
http://www.anes.uab.edu/aneshist/longf
ellow.jpg

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 Urgency
The main message of the poem is that we need
to act with some urgency.
This urgency is communicated through a
trochaic rhythm, which gives the poem a
driving, forceful tone. The music of the lines
reinforces the rushed mood:

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;
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 The soul does not die
The urgency might seem a little strange, since in
the Christian cosmos Longfellow inhabits, we
have an eternity:

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

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 So isnt it strange to hurry?

And it gets even stranger

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 The message seems to be:
Hurry up, youre going to die!

We must act so that we can get farther

than to-day and yet

our hearts, though stout and

brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
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 Now is the only time we have
Time is fleeting we are told. We have neither
the past or the future. We have only the
present:

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !

Let the dead Past bury its dead !

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 But why?
If the soul lives forever, and if this world does
not last, why strive?

Why work?

Why not eat, drink and be merry?

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 Longfellow makes emotional appeals

He uses contrasting images, suggesting that

people who dont act arent really free.
They are like dumb, driven cattle
while someone who does act lives the larger and
freer life of a hero in the strife.

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 Great people acted
He appeals to the image of great men who
made their lives sublime*.
But he gives no examples of what they actually
accomplished with all their striving.

* Characterized by nobility; majestic. . . Inspiring awe;

impressive.

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 Except footprints in sand
Even that image is ambiguous. They left their
mark upon the world, but its the most
transient of marks.
What is more fleeting than a footprint in the
sand?

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 Wait! Theres more!
Someone else might see that footprint,
And it might help him take heart:

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

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 Is this persuasive?
Struggle and strive, because youre going to die,
but in your struggle you may leave fleeting
footprints that others who are struggling
toward death might see, and this will give
them the courage to continue struggling.

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 Until they die too
In some ways, the poem makes no sense.

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 And yet
It has satisfied millions of readers and been
memorized by generations of school children.
Though Longfellow doesnt describe any of the
important things that are done in this world,
we know that some things are important.

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 Striving in the face of death
Heroic people have made advances against the
real enemies of humanity:
Disease
Poverty
Ignorance
Fear

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 The poem resonates
For readers who share Longfellows Christian
sensibility that this word, though transient, is
important.
Here we can fight the good fight. We can not
only accomplish much good, we can also
provide an inspirational model for those who
come later.

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 Labor and Wait
While we work, we are also waiting.
Waiting for what?

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 Real life
The soul does not die. Life is real.

Things are not as they seem.

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1. What does 2. Why are
term grave words Art,
represent? If Time, Future,
the grave is Past, and
not lifes goal, Present
what then is capitalized?
its goal? What do they
symbolize?
 4. Discuss
3. In the the
fourth connotative
stanza, what meanings of
is the person the following
afraid of? lines on the
next page.
 5. According
Foot prints on to the
the sand of
time poet,
what are
Seeing, shall we
take heart supposed
again
to do as
Learn to labor we go on
and to wait living?
6. Which of
the 7. What
stanzas significant
do you lessons can
like the be gleaned
most? from the
Why? poem?
 Choose a song that you
consider the most
meaningful to you and
which you can relate.
Explain why you picked
the song and how relevant
it is to your life.