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Ashlyn Gunn
Mrs. Fenton
Group 5
3/27/14
Romantic Analysis of A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poetry can be described as our door into the intellectual and cavernous mind of the poet.
They are filled with the wonders of literary devices and symbolism that the poet himself
procures. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote a poem called A Psalm of Life. This work
of art shows the reader Longfellows outlook on life and how people live. In the poem A Psalm
of Life, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow uses similes and personification to convey the message
that a person needs to live their life to the fullest and make their own path.
In the poem A Psalm of Life the writer describes some mistakes people make in life
and what he thinks people should do in order to live better lives. In the first stanza, the author
writes for people not to say that life is meaningless. He writes that one is not living if they arent
going out and doing things. Henry also writes that things are not what they seem to be. The
second stanza explains that life is a real true thing, that you dont live life to die. Longfellow
writes that while your body is dead your soul lives on. Stanza three says that whether happy or
sad the end is the end and we should live each day to be better than the previous. In the fourth
stanza, Longfellow writes that as other things live on we, as people, still die. He also says that
even though people act like theyre invincible, they die. Henry begins to tell the reader in stanza
five what he thinks people should do to better their lives. He says that in life, dont be like
everyone else and dwell in the past. Stanza six tells the reader to live in the present and reiterates
the idea not to live in the past. It also says to live through your heart and through God. In the
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seventh stanza the writer tells the reader that people make their own lives happy and beautiful.
He also says to leave your positive influence on the world. This idea of our influence is
continued in stanza eight when it is written that our influence could one day be someone elses
inspiration. In the last stanza Henry encourages his readers to do everything wholeheartedly and
to keep pursuing their dreams.
One part of the poem where Henry Longfellow uses language to convey his message is in
stanza five line nineteen. He writes, Be not like dumb, driven cattle. By this Longfellow means
to tell the reader not to be like everybody else. Through this simile, the author hopes to make his
readers feel that following others paths is dumb and that individuality is a great trait to have.
He wants the reader to create their own path. Another part of the poem where Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow hopes to convey his message of life through language is in his personification of the
past in stanza six, line twenty two. Let the dead past bury its dead! Here, he means to tell the
reader not to live in the past in order to live their life to the fullest. Longfellow wants the reader
to feel that by living in the past, one drags down their future.
From his poem A Psalm of Life, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wants the reader to get
the message that a person needs to live their life to the fullest and to make their own path. He
describes following cattle as dumb because he believes that following in others paths and
making the same mistakes is a bad idea. Henry wants people to make their own life paths and to
be individuals. The writer also personifies the past to be dead because it is over and done with. A
person should not dwell on their past because it would wreck their future and their present.
While dwelling on your past, Longfellow believes, one cannot live their best life, they cannot
live to the fullest extent of the word.
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Many great poets were created through the Romantic era. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
was one of them. His poem A Psalm of Life contains many values and beliefs of Romanticism.
Some major points of this poem are as previously stated: live your life to the fullest and make
your own path in life. These two points represent Romantic ideas of thinking. Be not like dumb,
driven cattle! embodies the Romantic idea of individuality. (19) In this line Longfellow tells the
reader not to follow other s and to be an individual. Another area where the idea of individuality
is shown is in line twenty six of the poem. We can make our lives sublime. This line tells the
reader to create their own individual life different from others. Another belief of Romanticism
was seeing the common man as a hero. Telling the reader to be their own hero is line twenty. Be
a hero in the strife! The author, here calls life a strife. Lives of great men all remind us/ We
can make our lives sublime. (25, 26) These two lines of Henrys poem are meant to say that the
great men were first common men and if they could make their lives better so can we.
Imagination and escapism were large parts of Romantic thinking. They can be shown in lines
twenty seven and twenty eight of A Psalm of Life. And, departing, leave behind us/
Footprints on the sand of time. (27, 28) Here, the author lets the reader know that they should
lead their own path and escape the usual or typical path of life. Escaping ones past can also be
seen when Longfellow tells his reader, Let the dead past bury its dead! (22) Over all, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow shows beliefs of Romanticism and uses figurative language to convey
the message that one should live their life to the fullest and make their own path in his poem A
Psalm of Life.