A Psalm of Life by Henry Longfellow

A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST

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 art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

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, howe’er 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 sands 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.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: The Psalm of Life

        I have for some time considered this poem to be my favorite.  It tells eloquently and precisely my philosophy on life.  Until recently, however, I have neglected to appreciate and credited the author with the homage due him.

        Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an incredible man in many respects.  In school, we learn of the high honors he gained, his popularity, his mastery of form and language… Of these things we have read and are well acquainted with. These are the honors we pay this man.

        Moreover, he surpassed all other poets in popularity. He was the only American poet honored in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. He could express with excellence the common knowledge and feelings that we share of nature, home and family, religious and moral lessons, and patriotism. But what more was he?

        Longfellow was a man that lived a life that paralleled his teachings. He did not follow the transcendental ideas of his peers.  He lived a life that honored God and his fellow man. He was a confident man of originality of thought.  
       (If I were of a mind to and possessed the time, I could continue to relate numerous reasons why I believe Longfellow to be the greatest American poet. However, I will speak forthrightly the main reasons that I base my partiality.)    

        The difference between others of his day and Longfellow is that he based his frame of reference on the foundations of the Word of God while excelling in the art of writing.  He understood that one must act “Heart within, and God o’rehead”.  Thus, he produced *“songs that soothe and heal” the soul of man.  No other American in the Renaissance possessed both the wisdom of life and the ability to speak it as did Longfellow.

*A quote taken from Walt Whitman

Notes on “The Psalm of Life”:

      In the opening stanza the poem rejects the “mournful numbers” that denounce the meaning and purpose of life. He also introduces a paradox by stating “the soul is dead that slumbers” and then, in the next stanza, saying the death didn’t affect the soul. Here he is referring to the attitude and demeanor of one's being while communicating the immortality of the soul.

     

      In stanza five, he recognizes the brevity of life as a driving force to accomplish more.

     

    The lines of this poem are short and are frequently interrupted(“Life is real--life is earnest--“) which  emphasizes the meaning of the poem through its energetic rhythm.

   

   The lasting effect of individual achievements is highlighted in lines 25-28. How thought-provoking is the line “Footprints in the sands of time”. The conceit made of time and sand is then figuratively said to be impressible by the feet of man. Incredible thought…