MARIAN “A Psalm of Life” is an inspiring
poem written by the American poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The
poem was first published in the
October 1838 issue of The
Knickerbocker or New-York Monthly
Magazine, a magazine published in the
New York City.
A psalm is a religious or sacred song or
hymn, in particular any of those
contained in the biblical Book of Psalms
and used in Christian and Jewish
worship. But here the meaning of “a
psalm of life” is a song of life, where the
poet glorifies life and its possibilities. It is
an invocation to mankind to follow the
path of righteousness, the right way to
live this life. The poem is didactic in
tone
Didactic
 didactic poetry  refers
to poems that contain a clear
moral or message or purpose to
convey to its readers
ALLAN :Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
was one of the most widely known and
best-loved American poets of the 19th
century. He achieved a level of national
and international prominence previously
unequaled in the literary history of the
United States .“A Psalm of Life” were
mainstays of primary and secondary
school curricula, long remembered by
generations of readers who studied
them as children. Born on February 27,
1807, in Portland (while Maine was still
a part of Massachusetts Longfellow,
was the daughter of General Peleg
Wadsworth, who had served in the
American Revolution. She named this
second son among her eight children for
her brother, Henry Wadsworth, who had
died in Tripoli harbor in 1804
MARIAN :The poem ‘A Psalm of Life’
often takes the subtitle “What the Heart
of the Young Man Said to the
Psalmist“. This is very important in
suggesting the context of writing this
poem. Here, the speaker (a young man)
responds to the Biblical teachings that
this human life is not important and that
we are made of dust and eventually
return to dust. So, we may take it as a
psalm in response to a psalm.
It is very influential in China, because it
is said to the first English poem
translated into Chinese.
A Psalm of Life
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807-
1882
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
   Finds 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, Let us, then, be up and doing,
   Sailing o'er life's solemn main,    With a heart for any fate;
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Still achieving, still pursuing
   Seeing, shall take heart again.    Learn to labor and to wait.

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 poem begins with a verb ‘Tell’ in an imperative manner. And the very first sentence
strikes the positive keynote of the poem. It also indicates that the poet is going to give
us some instructions on what this life actually is and how we should take it. The poet
asks us not to tell him in sorrowful verses that life is a hollow and meaningless dream.
Here Longfellow slams the pessimists who sing melancholy songs, write sad poems, or
thinks that nothing can be achieved in this life. According to the poet, a person who
spends all his time sleeping is already dead. Such worthless examples of life often
misguide others. And he assures that life is not so shady or worthless as it looks like,
and it has much more potential than we think of.

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 second stanza begins with the line, ‘Life is real! Life is earnest!’ This also conveys
the poet’s positive attitude towards life. According to him life is real and serious, not
baseless or useless. So we should not take this life lightly. To him, grave is not the
ultimate goal of life; life does not end with death. He wants to indicate that our works
remain in this world even after our death. He thinks, “Dust thou art, to dust thou
returnest” (You are made of dust, and you will go back to dust after death) is only
spoken of the body and it is not applicable to the soul. So the poet makes it clear that he
believes in the existence of the soul after our death.
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 third stanza of A Psalm of Life is about the ideal way of living. The poet suggests
that neither enjoyment, nor sorrow should be our ultimate aim or way of life. He means
to say that in an ideal life there should be both enjoyment and sorrow in a balanced
way. But that is not crucial. The most important thing is to work, and work diligently so
that we can always be a better-learned, better-skilled and better-mannered human
being with every passing day. The poet in The Psalm of Life doesn’t want us to waste
even a single day. We should crave for going forward farther each day in our journey of
life.

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.

The fourth stanza of the poem A Psalm of Life is about our responsibilities in this life,
about the work assigned to us. “Art is long, and Time is fleeting” means that the work
given to us is vast and time consuming, but the time is running away fast with every
moment. The poet then says that though our hearts are brave and stout at other times,
we fear death and our heart beats when we realize that Death is certainly coming our
way bit by bit. Longfellow compares this situation of our heart to the beating of the
clothed drums at the funeral marches to the grave. Here he means to say that we
should utilize our limited time span to the fullest instead of wasting it in the thought of
death or other such thing.

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!

In the above stanza of A Psalm of Life, the poet compares this world to a vast battlefield
where we, the human beings come temporarily in the camps to fight the battle of our
life. So the human beings are compared with troops. The poet urges us to be a hero in
this battle of life, to fight this out bravely and finally win it. In other words, he wishes us
to be successful in life by following the right way of life. He doesn’t like to see us like the
dumb cattle driven by others, with no particular goal or direction.

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!

In the sixth stanza of the poem A Psalm of life, the poet reminds us of a very popular
quote: “Learn from the past, live in the present, and hope for the future.” But here the
poet instructs us not to trust the future, however pleasant it may seem, because we
often get carried away by the happy dreams about our future and forget to act in the
present. He also tells us to forget the past events, as they are dead, and they should not
haunt us anymore and affect our present action. And what is crucial is to act in the
present, ‘in the living Present!’ We have to follow our heart, and keep faith in the God
overhead.

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

In the seventh stanza of the poem, the poet says that the lives of so many great and
successful men remind us that we can also achieve those heights if we wish and strive
for that. And if we can do that, we would be living forever in our works, in the hearts of
people. Longfellow compares this immortality to leaving footprints on the sands of time.
In other words, we will not be living forever here, but we can leave our marks on the
infinite flow of time through our good work. That would inspire later generations to follow
our way.

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

In the penultimate stanza of A Psalm of

life, the poet continues the same theme of leaving a ‘footprint’ to inspire others to follow.
He compares a dejected or wretched person with a hopeless shipwrecked man sailing
over the large sea of life (‘life’s solemn main’). That person can find the examples set by
us, and can gain courage and hope to move forward.
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 four lines of A Psalm of Life, the poet Longfellow asks us to be up at once
and start working. However, the poet here urges us not to mind the consequences, or,
to make our mind prepared for any fate. We must carry on, reaching great heights, still
not leaving. We must learn to labour, to work hard, to act wisely, and wait for the
rewards patiently.

So, going through this poem, we now realize how inspiring and motivating this poem
has been. The poet conveys his message all over the poem. But I feel, the first two
lines, and the very last line of the poem are enough to give an impression of what this
poem is all about: we should not spend our priceless moments sitting idly and doing
nothing, rather we have to work hard towards reaching our goal and to make the most
out of this short life.
4. Do the people of today still share the
value expressed in the Psalm of
1. What is the purpose of the poem A Life?
Psalm of Life? Of course people of today still
Quick Answer. "A Psalm of Life" by share the values expressed in th
Henry Wadsworth carries a message of “Psalm of Life”. It can be seen
hope and encouragement. It especially from teachers and
encourages people to live their lives to students, why? Because teachers
the fullest, using the short time we have really work hard, they spent almost
here on Earth as a gift. The poem is a half of their lives teaching, shaping
message to future generations to find us to become a better citizen of our
work and action that gives nation
them purpose and passion.
2. What does bivouac of life mean? 2. The Gist of the Poem
Bivouac means a tent constructed
during wars without a covering.By There are total nine stanzas in the
these lines the poet means poem.
that life is always unprotected. Any In the first two stanzas, Longfellow
obstacle can come any time.. begins his poem straightly with the
3. What are the values expressed in question “what is the life”. He doesn’t
the poem? agree the opinion that the destiny of
The values that are expressed in dying means we should waste our time.
the poem 'Psalm of life' is patience, On the contrary, we should save time to
hard work, optimism, self- achieve our value. From the third
belief, self –respect, faith in stanza, he starts to tell readers how to
God, self confidence. spend life which is the theme of A Psalm
of Life. He points out that the goal of life
3. What is the meaning of art is long and is to act and to be better. Now that life
time is fleeting? truly exists, we should “act in the
glorious present”. In the seventh and
In line 13, "Art is long" is used in eighth stanza, the poet illustrates the
contrast to the "fleeting" nature of time. meaning of life which is to leave a
This line means the constructions of a glorious name behind us and to give the
man's record of experience [art] may later generation encouragement. The
last long after him as a witness to his ninth stanza is a generalization of the
talent and creative imagination, but whole poem. He urges people to act
the time a person has to create art is now, to pursue their dreams, to make
limited.
progress, so that everyone can have a
meaningful life.
4.3. Cohesion and Coherence
The reason why the poem has an
abundant content and clear logic is that
it uses many synonyms and antonyms.
Synonyms can increase the variety of
vocabulary and the beauty of rhythm,
such as “end” and “goal”, “stout” and
“brave”, “battle” and “strife”, “tomorrow”
and “future”. Antonyms have a sharp
contrast of two opposition, such as
“dream” and “real”, “life” and “grave”,
“enjoyment” and “sorrow”.
5.1. Reality of the Poet
I would like to explain reality of
Longfellow in two aspects, one is his
own personal experience and the other
one is his motherland―America’s
development.
Individually, as what I have mentioned,
the purpose that why Longfellow writes
“A Psalm of Life” is to pacify his soul,
encourage himself to walk out sorrow
and act in the living present. So I think
that objects on whom the poet wants to
have a didactic impact also include
himself. Besides, if we consider
contemporary literature tradition, we can
also find something valuable. Puritanism
is a cultural heritage for Americans.
American Romantic authors tend to
more moralize, edify and less to
entertain than their English and
European counterparts. So it’s
reasonable for Longfellow to write such
a didactic and optimistic poem in that
period.
Nationally, America was a new nation
with political, economic and cultural
independence in 19th century. The
economic boom brought about a
tremendous sense of optimism and
hope. So I think the background of
America also inspires Longfellow to
keep a positive attitude to life and future.
5.2. Reality of Us
The theme of this poem reminds me of
the significance of my university life.
Since the past passed by and the future
is not coming yet, what I can hold tightly
just is the living present, not immersed
in the memory or illusion about future.
Holding tightly means I should make full
use of time. As for students, the most
important thing is working hard and
taking unremitting efforts. On in this way
can we compensate for the regret and
create our future.
Besides, it also reminds me that though
mankind has lived a long time our own
individual time on earth is limited and
will pass very quickly, with each
heartbeat a further step towards the
grave. So try, like great men of the past,
to make something of ourselves in our
short time on earth and leave behind
something by which to be remembered.
Learning this poem, I not only know how
to appreciate its beauty but also am
enlightened and broadened in my mind.
6. Conclusion
“A Psalm of Life” is a successful literary
work which has a unity of form and
spirit. The main contribution of the
appreciation relies on that not only tidy
structure, clear logic, harmonious meter
and strong rhythm in form, but also
positive theme, rich implication and
persuasive tone in content are
discussed. Both the behind meaning
and literal beauty of the poem are
worthy of our deep appreciation. Keep a
devout attitude to read it: our mind
needs bread of spirit as our body needs
bread.
Regretfully, the limitation of this paper is
not linking the target lyric poem to
society at that time, thus lacking
discussion in terms of social
background. More researches can move
forward in this direction
 Mournful- mournful is feeling or
expressing sorrow
 Slumbers - rest
 Earnest- showing sincere 
 Fleeting- lasting for a very short
time.
 Stout-  heavy build.
 Muffled- To muffle is to quiet
a sound, usually by wrapping it
with something. If you try to
speak with a scarf over your
mouth, your voice will
 be muffled. When a hitman puts
a silencer on a gun,
he's muffling the sound of
gunshots, since muffling makes
things quieter.
 Bivouac- emporary camp without
tents or cover, used especially by
soldiers or mountaineers. /ˈbivo͞o
ˌak/
 Strife- ngry or bitter disagreement
over fundamental issues; conflict.
 Sublime- of such excellence,
beauty as to inspire great
admiration
 Forlorn - sad and abandoned or
lonely.
 Shipwrecked- ˈSHipˌrek/ he loss or
destruction of a ship through
storm, collision, going aground,
etc. any ruin, failure, or
destruction.