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Poetry: Longfellow's Poems

Poetry: Longfellow's Poems image
Parent Issue
Day
8
Month
April
Year
1844
Copyright
Public Domain
Additional Text

"A Psalm of Life" was first published in the October 1838 issue of The Knickerbocker, a New York literary magazine. The first printing in The Signal of Liberty was on December 22, 1841 (see also "Poetry: A Psalm of Life"). The first printing of "The Light of Stars" in The Signal of Liberty was on October 30, 1843 (see also "Poetry: The Light of Stars").

Poem
OCR Text

ThO intense earnestneas of these odes is gre&Üy increased by tiie use of images derived from ordinary subjecte, the opplication of which comes upo the soul with a startliiig effect. A beuutiful inslanco of tlns peculiarity occurs in the "Psalm of Life:" - 'Life is real ! Lifo is earnest ! And the grave is not its goal; 'Dust thou art, to dust returnest,' Was not spoken of the sou!. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Js our destined end or way; Bilt to act, that each to morrow Find us farüier than to day. "Art is long-, and Time is ileeting, And our hearts, tiio' stout and brave, Still, like mvjjïed drums, are bealing Funerai marches lo thc grave.'' In the same psalm we have a still more Jively image of a similar character: "Li ves of great men all lemtnd os Wecan make our Hves sublime, And, deparíing, leuve behind U3 Footsteps on the sands of time; "Footprints, that perhaps onolher, Sailing oer üfe's solenin main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brotlier, Seeing, shall take heart aniu." The spirit of Christian heroism is wonhily depicted in a short lyric, entiUcd the "Light of Stars," from which we extract the concludjng sta n zas:"The otar of the unconquered will, He rieea íd my breast, Serene, and resolute, and still, Aud cnlni, and self-possss?ed. "And thon, too, vvhosoe'er thou art, That readest thia brief psalm, As one by one thy hopea depart, Be resolute and calm. ''O fearnot in a world like this, And thou ehalt know ere long- Know how sublime a thingitia To 6ufFer and be strong."