Find a poem from one of the “Fireside Poets.

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1) Copy the poem into the box below:

2) Who is the poet?

3) What year was it written?
4) What is the dominant tone of the poem?
5) What is a quote that contributes to this tone?
6) What would you say is the overall message of this poem?

Read the poem “A Psalm of Life” below:

A Psalm of Life
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Psalmist. Be a hero in the strife!

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

Life is but an empty dream! Let the dead Past bury its dead!
For the soul is dead that slumbers, Act,— act in the living Present!
And things are not what they seem. Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Life is real! Life is earnest! Lives of great men all remind us

And the grave is not its goal; We can make our lives sublime,
Dust thou art, to dust returnest, And, departing, leave behind us
Was not spoken of the soul. Footprints on the sands of time;

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Footprints, that perhaps another,

Is our destined end or way; Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
But to act, that each to-morrow A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Find us farther than to-day. Seeing, shall take heart again.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, Let us, then, be up and doing,
And our hearts, though stout and brave, With a heart for any fate;
Still, like muffled drums, are beating Still achieving, still pursuing,
Funeral marches to the grave. Learn to labor and to wait.

- 1838

7) What is the dominant tone of this poem?

8) What is a quote that contributes to this tone?
9) What would you say is the overall message of this poem?
For each poem:
10) Underline​ any vocabulary words you need to define.
11) Define them here:
a)
12) Highlight in ​blue​ an example of imagery.
13) Which of the five types of imagery is your example?
14) Highlight in ​green​ a quote that demonstrates one of the characteristics of Romanticism.
15) Which characteristic does this demonstrate?
16) Highlight in ​orange​ an example of a literary device (irony, metaphor, hyperbole, etc.)
17) Which literary device is being used ​and why​?

How the poems compare:

18) In a brief paragraph, compare how each author develops a specific tone. Use specific evidence in your
response, and make sure your quotes are ​embedded​.
19) Write a ​universal theme statement​ that comments on the Fireside Poets’ view of nature.
20) In a paragraph, explain how each poem you read contributes to this theme. Use specific evidence in
your response, and make sure your quotes are ​embedded.​