A SONG OF LIFE
American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882) wrote a
world famous poem known as A Psalm of
Life. It is an inspirational poem, quite useful for young students, and has
occupied significant space in poetry books.
The poem consists of nine stanzas,
each having four lines. The language is simple, yet powerful. Each stanza has a positive, stimulating
message. The first one reads las
follows:
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.
In the very
next stanza the Longfellow dissolves this
illusion and says:
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 poem has
been based on the literal and figurative meaning of the word soul, such as: an immortal
human being ; the animating force ; the inspirer or the moving spirit of some
activity, plan, movement, adventure; or the essence of some thing, etc.
In the
remaining stanzas, the poet inspires the readers to be heroic; trust in God; have belief in the present time, put no trust
in future; remain busy all the time.
The essence
of the poem lies in the following two
stanzas:
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.
********
G.R.Kanwal
30th October 2023
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