Appreciation of The Psalm of Life

The Psalm of Life is one of the most famous poems written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a famous American poet. The poem expresses Longfellow’s understanding of life.

Firstly, the poem consists of nine stanzas and every stanza has four lines rhyming abab. Generally, the poem is written in iambic tetrameter though some parts are in trimeter. Besides, at the end of the line, the poet uses single rhyme and double rhyme to vary the form of the poem. For example, the words “number” and “slumber” in the first line and third line reflect the use of double rhyme while “dream” and “seem” use single rhyme. Also, the poet uses alliteration to make the poem easy to pronounce. For instance, for the soul is dead that slumber; and the grave is not its goal. The use of rhyme, alliteration and end rhyme makes the poem neat and orderly. When reading it, reader will have a sense of fighting and striving.

Actually, the poem is a carol in terms of types of poem. Besides, the poem can be regarded as an educational poem. The poem says that life is beautiful. It tells people that even though human beings are destined to die, we should live our life productively and positively.

In the opening stanza, the poet says: “tell me not, in mournful numbers, life is but an empty dream!” I think the author wants to express that we should not live a useless life. What we should do is to find something meaningful and to achieve it. After our death, we should leave something good to this world. In the second stanza, Longfellow says that life is real and that life is earnest. In Longfellow’s eyes, grave is not our goal. He holds a firm belief that we should live life fully. The following stanzas also express that we should live a productive and positive life. In the third stanza, Longfellow says that life is not enjoyment or sorrow but action. In my opinion, Longfellow wants to say that the end or the result of life is not important, the process or the journey of life is the most important thing. Besides, if we live everyday fully, we can get a better result. Then, Longfellow says we should not be like dumb, driven cattle. He suggests that we should have our principle. Never let others control our minds so that we are like living corpses. Later, the author asks us not to trust future even though it is pleasant. It reminds me of a famous saying. It goes like this: “the past is history; future is not coming; we can only seize present.” lots of people spend much of their time dreaming about future but never make effort. This kind of people would get nothing in the end. Future is pleasant, but the happy future is based on our efforts today. In the eighth stanza, Longfellow says that we can leave our footprints to the later generations. The later generation will walk our way once again. They will run into the same dilemma as we have, so they can pick up their courage and heart if they see our footprints. Making efforts now is not only for us but also for other people who are on their rugged way to success.

 The Psalm of Life is an encouraging poem. It tells us how to treat life correctly and how to live life rightly. The author regards himself as a young people so that he can be closer to the younger generation. All in all, the poem tells us that life is not to be idled away but to live fully.