Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth

Longfellow
A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a nine stanza poem that is divided into sets
of four lines, or quatrains. These quatrains each following a rhyming pattern of abab cdcd
efef…and so on, varying as the poem proceeds.

Summary of A Psalm of Life

“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow describes the purpose of life, and how one
should handle the sorrow and struggles along the way.
The poem begins with the speaker contradicting a listener who wants to explain life to him as a
matter of number and figures. The rest of the poem is dedicated to the speaker trying to prove
this unknown person wrong. He describes the way in which he believes that no matter what
death brings, the soul will never be destroyed. Because of this, it is important to do all one can in
life to make one’s situation, and that of others, better.
The speaker comes to the conclusion that he, and the listener, must be prepared at anytime for
death, strife, or any trouble thrown at them. They must face life, and make the best of every day.

Analysis of A Psalm of Life

Stanza One
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.
The speaker of this piece begins by asking something of his listener. He is close to the point of
begging, desperate that his worst fears (which will be revealed as the poem continues) are not
confirmed.
He is asking his listener at this point to “not” tell him that “Life is but an empty dream.” He does
not want this person to break down the statistics, facts, and “numbers” of life, in an attempt to
make sense of it. The speaker does not see, nor does he want to understand the world in that
way.
In the second half of the quatrain, and for the majority of the poem hereafter, the speaker is
attempting to fight back against the idea that life can be broken down into flat, emotionless,
numerics. He states that a “soul is dead” that is able to think of the world in this way. The person
who analyzes the world so carefully (and in this particular manner) is making a mistake.

Stanza Two
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.
The narrator continues on with what reads as a desperate attempt to contradict what he was afraid
of in the first stanza. He exclaims for any to hear that “Life is real!” And it is “earnest!” He is
enthusiastically supportive of the idea that life is worth living and that it is worth something real.
He believes that there is a reason to be alive other than getting to the grave.
He elaborates on this belief when he describes the ending of life as belonging solely to the body,
and not to the soul. When the words, “Dust thou art, to dust returnest” were spoken, he says, they
were not in reference to “the soul.”

Stanza Three
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
The speaker continues his discussion of the purpose or point of life, He does not believe, nor will
he even consider, the possibility that life is made to suffer through. Additionally, he knows that
“enjoyment” is not one’s predetermined destiny. There will be both of these emotions along the
way, but the greatest purpose of life is “to act,” with the intent of furthering oneself and those
around one.
The narrator is confident in his beliefs and knows how to live his own life.

Stanza Four
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 fourth stanza the narrator speaks on what life can seem to be. He understands that to many
“Art is long,” there is much of it to see and not enough time to see it in. This is an irreconcilable
problem and there’s nothing one can do about it.
One must be “stout and brave” and following the beating drums of life to the grave. One does
not have to go to their death without having accomplished anything though.

Related poetry: Fata Morgana by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Stanza Five
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!
The speaker expands on the idea that one must make something of one’s life while it possible to.
He compares the days of life to the breadth of a battlefield. It is on this field one must not act like
“driven cattle,” who are pushed around by others but as a “hero” who is battling his way through
“strife.”

Stanza Six
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!
The sixth quatrain speaks on how one must regard the past and future. The past must remain
where it is, along with it’s dead. It should not influence one anymore than is necessary. The
“living Present” is what is important because this is where one’s “Heart” is, along with “God”
watching down from “o’erhead.”

Stanza Seven
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
After having addressed all the parts of life the speaker turns to his own inspirations and whom
believes should influence the listener. He reminds all who hear him that there have been many
great men on this planet and that their lives should “remind us” that “We can” also have “lives
sublime.” It is possible, when death finally comes, to leave a legacy that is worth something.

Stanza Eight
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
The legacy that the speaker describes is shown as “footprints” that are forever on the “sands of
time.” One’s life will become one of those that other’s take comfort in. A “brother,” many years
from now, might see those footprints and “take heart again” that he has a future, even when
things seem darkest.

Stanza Nine
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
In the final stanza the speaker makes a concluding statement, directed at the listener. He asks that
they “be up,” and prepared for “any fate.” He is ready, at least mentally and emotionally, to
embrace what life will throw at him and he hopes the listener he has been arguing with will
follow along. They will stand up to the world and “learn to labor and wait” for all the things
worth waiting for. Life and death will proceed onwards and the narrator will be there, ready for
anything.
About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine in February of 1807. As a young
man he was sent to private school, and alongside his peers was fellow writer, Nathaniel
Hawthorne. Longfellow was a proficient student of languages and after school, traveled, on his
own expense, throughout Europe where he refined his language skills.
After this trip he was married, and began to write language textbooks. He published a collection
of essays that earned him a professorship at Harvard University. Longfellow’s wife died in 1836
from a miscarriage and he turned to his writing as a means of comfort. Soon after this loss he
published the novel, Hyperion. Longfellow would marry again, seven years later. He and his new
with, Frances Appleton, had six children.
Over the next decade and a half, Longfellow produced his best work. These included Voices of
the Night, Hymn to the Night, and later, Psalm of Life. His popularity was growing throughout
Europe and America. In the last years of his life, he enjoyed real fame. This success was
dampened by loss as his second wife died in a house fire. Longfellow died in March of 1882
after developing severe stomach pains. He lived to see himself become one of America’s most
successful writers.