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"A PSALM OF LIFE"
WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MANSAID TO THE PSALMIST
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by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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1Tell me not in mournful numbers,
2"Life is but an empty dream!"
3For the soul is dead that slumbers,
4And things are not what they seem.
54 Life is real! Life is earnest!
6And the grave is not its goal;
7"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
8Was not spoken of the soul.
9Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
10Is our destined end or way;
11But to act, that each to-morrow
12Find us further than to-day.
13Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
14And our hearts, though stout and brave,
15Still, like muffled drums, are beating
16Funeral marches to the grave.
17In the world's broad field of battle,
18In the bivouac of Life,
19Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
20Be a hero in the strife!
21Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
22Let the dead Past bury its dead!
23Act -- act in the living Present!
24Heart within, and God o'erhead!
25Lives of great men all remind us
26We can make our lives sublime,
27And, departing, leave behind us
28Footprints on the sands of time;
29Footprints, that perhaps another,
30Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
31A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
32Seeing, shall take heart again.
33Let us, then, be up and doing,
34With a heart for any fate;
35Still achieving, still pursuing,
36Learn to labour and to wait,
PARAPHRASE
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1.) Complete the paraphrase of each stanza.
2.) Rhyme Scheme. Mark the rhyme scheme of a stanza or a poem by using letters (beginning with ‘a’) to designate the lines, assigning the same letter to lines that end with the same sound in each stanza. Mark the poem above with letters denoting its rhyme scheme.
Answer the following questions:
- What attitude or idea does the speaker challenge in the first two stanzas?
- In the third stanza, what does the speaker warn against?
- According to the speaker, what can we learn from the “lives of great men”?
- How does this poem represent what we have learned about romanticism? Be specific and refer back to your notes if you need to.
- What “footprints” would you like to leave, “on the sands of time”?
- In lines 17-18 of “A Psalm of Life”, Longfellow uses a metaphor that compares life to a BATTLE. What other metaphors (or similes) have you heard used in regards to life?
- Using your own talents, what would you say that “LIFE IS…”? Explain.