A Psalm of Life, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

4. 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.

5. 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!

6. 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!

7. Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

8. Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

9. Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

1.

Stanza 1: What is the rhyme scheme?

2.

Stanza 2: What is Longfellow saying about the human soul here?

3.

Stanza 3: Enjoyment and sorrow are opposites, but what do they have in common here?

4.

Stanza 4: The word "beating" is used here to describe which two objects?

5.

Stanza 5: Define the word "bivouac." What do you think Longfellow is saying about life with this word?

6.

Stanza 6: What do you think "trust no future" means?

7.

Stanza 7: What are the words "footprints" and "sands" used as metaphors for?

8.

Stanza 8: What is used as a metaphor for life in this stanza?

9.

Stanza 9: In the last two lines, how do you think that learning the qualities in the last line ("to labor and to wait") help in performing the charges in the previous line (achieving and pursuing)?