A Psalm of Life. What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist
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-morrowFind us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,And our hearts, though stout and brave,Still, like muffled drums, are beatingFuneral 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 usWe can make our lives sublime,And, departing, leave behind usFootprints 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.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- remind v. t.
- To put (one) in mind of something; to bring to the remembrance of; to bring to the notice or consideration of (a person).
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Psalm of Life. What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life. What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/a-psalm-of-life-what-the-heart-of-the-young-man-said-to-the-.html, id L17480.
Form and metre
A Psalm of Life. What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB numbersA · dreamB · slumbersA · seemB
- 2 ABAB earnestA · goalB · returnestA · soulB
- 3 ABAB sorrowA · wayB · morrowA · dayB
- 4 ABAB fleetingA · braveB · beatingA · graveB
- 5 ABAB battleA · lifeB · cattleA · strifeB
- 6 ABAB pleasantA · deadB · presentA · o'erheadB
- 7 ABAB usA · sublimeB · usA · timeB
- 8 ABAB anotherA · mainB · brotherA · againB
- 9 ABAB doingA · fateB · pursuingA · waitB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Tell me not, in mournful numbers, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Life is but an empty dream! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For the soul is dead that slumbers, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And things are not what they seem. | 7 | ······· |
| Life is real! Life is earnest! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the grave is not its goal; | 7 | ······· |
| Dust thou art, to dust returnest, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Was not spoken of the soul. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Is our destined end or way; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But to act, that each to-morrow | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Find us farther than to-day. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Art is long, and Time is fleeting, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And our hearts, though stout and brave, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Still, like muffled drums, are beating | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Funeral marches to the grave. | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| In the world’s broad field of battle, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the bivouac of Life, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Be not like dumb, driven cattle! | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Be a hero in the strife! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Let the dead Past bury its dead! | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Act,—act in the living Present! | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Heart within, and God o’erhead! | 7 | ······· |
| Lives of great men all remind us | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| We can make our lives sublime, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And, departing, leave behind us | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Footprints on the sands of time;— | 7 | /······ |
| Footprints, that perhaps another, | 8 | /··˘/˘/˘ |
| Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Seeing, shall take heart again. | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Let us, then, be up and doing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| With a heart for any fate; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Still achieving, still pursuing, | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Learn to labor and to wait. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.