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8.9
/10
(75
votes)
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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 are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.
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 sand of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Read poems about / on: funeral, hero, brother, trust, future, fate, sorrow, today, dream, life, heart, time, world, god
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Comments about this poem (A Psalm of Life
by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
) |
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Click here to write your
comments about this poem (A Psalm of Life by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
)
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Ravi A
(8/4/2009 12:19:00 PM) |
What a poem with a positive thrust! The drive of the poem is like a marching song!
We are nobody before him in handling such a theme in simple and yet strong verses. He is very positive to the end.
'Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.'... We should never miss this idea in our life. It is very disappointing to see that our major junk of poetry do not certainly give a hand to such a shipwrecked brother to find his life once again. We handle very negative ideas to further drive such forlorn brothers into the depthless sea. It is time we reflected on this idea. And the last line! I am simply dumb founded. May god bless this philosopher poet.
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Marilyn Hochfield
(4/20/2009 2:25:00 PM) |
I believe there is an error in the line 'Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest.'
I recall it as 'Dust thou art, to dust returneth.'
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djean Whitney
(4/16/2009 9:04:00 PM) |
This poem is amazing, I like your work. A life full now that is unknow and worth wating to living for. Tommorow may be pland but what will realy happen is realy unknow but, it's worth waiting for.
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Nkululeko Mdudu
(8/6/2008 6:14:00 AM) |
It is indeed a psalm of life, a life full of a now that is worth living and a tommorow that is worth waiting for.
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Noreen Aira Camacho
(8/1/2008 9:10:00 PM) |
Very great and this is the poem that made me win the champion in poem reciting in VCMC-GMA.I think the reason of whyi won the place is because this poem is easy to relate and very meaningful! ! !
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Sanaa Shaukat
(2/6/2008 8:49:00 AM) |
this poem is an amazing piece of work.
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Jan Travers
(11/25/2007 9:12:00 AM) |
I agree that this poem seems to take on depth as life goes on. Some scholars say he wrote this as a response to his wife's death, and that makes the optimism even more appealing. Was he writing what he felt, or what he wanted to feel, I wonder.
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The poet known as kiibaati
(1/22/2007 11:38:00 AM) |
I was introduced to this poem by my high school principal and I loved it. Its a poem i, ve shared with a lot of friends. I even got it set in a scroll like frame so I get to see it everyday. Clearly my favorite.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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