Analysis of A Psalm Of life by Henry Longfellow

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A Psalm of Life
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW


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
  Find 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,
  Sailing o’er life’s solemn 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.

Analysis
The poem ‘A Psalm of life’ is a Carpe diem poem, i.e., a poem that inspires a yearning to work hard and never stop in the long voyage of life. Reading this poem is the need of the hour for many people who harbour existential nihilism, that is, who romanticize  struggle and adversities of life rather than being happy to live and experience life in the first place.
Stanza 1-3
In the first stanza, Longfellow chastises the ones who are well known for romanticizing sadness and hopelessness by presenting renditions and sorrowful songs that end up misguiding many people. He insists that life is wrongfully considered as an ‘empty dream’, that is, a hopeless and elusive dream. Longfellow blames these people for spreading a wrong message saying that life is not empty if the person is not slothful and unrealistic. People have to be up and active to realise their dreams rather than sleep and while their time away in doing nothing.
In the second stanza, Longfellow again insists that our lives are serious and that we were born with a purpose. As long as our soul is in good spirits, we do not need to worry about our less important body which is finally going to return to where it came from, that is, dust (dust thou art to dust thou returnest).
In the third stanza, Longfellow says that our purpose is not to find a happy or sad ending for life, but to labor everyday so as to improve ourselves and make ourselves better and stronger.
Stanza 4-6
In the fourth stanza, Longfellow reminds us of the fleeting, that is, the short and temporary nature of time in which ‘our actions have to be plenty and meaningful’(Art is long). In a short span of our life, our hearts although are supporting us in keeping us alive and working, they can only last for a temporary period of time. Longfellow refers to this reality in the line ‘like muffled drums are beating Funeral marches to the grave’ since in funeral marches drums are covered or muffled to subdue their joyful beating to a mournful beat.
In the fifth stanza, the poet calls our lives a battle. He also considers each life a bivouac, that is, temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers. So one can imagine that the poet is assertive in defining the shortness of our time. He says that in this battle we are supposed to show our skills to lead the battle rather than follow others like cattle.
In the sixth stanza, Longfellow tells us our future is unreliable. We cannot make presumptions about it. Also our past is our past; we never should dwell on what happened in the past. The only way we should act is by making the most of our present. We should draw maximum benefit out of it with all our heart believing in our god.
Stanza 7-9
In the seventh stanza, Longfellow says that great men have left behind them ‘footprints’ on ‘the sand of time’, that is their own mark in the quickly running time which has been compared in this poem to sand since sand physically moves very quickly under gravity as time gets over in the click of a finger. The great men have taught us that we can make our lives sublime, that is of good quality and valuable and like them leave footprints in the sand of time.
In the eighth stanza, Longfellow says that these footprints, that is, our mark in history can help others who might follow our example and when heartbroken because of failure can look at our journey and perseverance to start again with hope.
Finally, in the last stanza, Longfellow says:
Let us, then, be up and doing,
  With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
  Learn to labor and to wait.

The above lines sum up the real intent with which Longfellow has written ‘A Psalm of life’. The lines say that we must work hard, strive to be successful in our quest for knowledge and enlightenment and also have the spine to bear any fate. We should learn to work hard and have patience.

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