Composition and publication historyEdit

"Longfellow wrote the poem shortly after completing lectures on German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and was heavily inspired by him. He was also inspired to write it by a heartfelt conversation he had with friend and fellow professor at Harvard University Cornelius Conway Felton; the two had spent an evening "talking of matters, which lie near one's soul:–and how to bear one's self doughtily in Life's battle: and make the best of things".^[2] The next day, he wrote "A Psalm of Life". Longfellow was further inspired by the death of his first wife, Mary Storer Potter,^[3]and attempted to convince himself to have "a heart for any fate".^[1]

The poem was first published in the October 1838 issue of The Knickerbocker,^[1] though it was attributed only to "L." Longfellow was promised five dollars for its publication, though he never received payment.^[4] This original publication also included a slightly altered quote from Richard Crashaw as an epigram: "Life that shall send / A challenge to its end, / And when it comes, say, 'Welcome, friend.'"^[5]"A Psalm of Life" and other early poems by Longfellow, including "The Village Blacksmith" and "The Wreck of the Hesperus", were collected and published as Voices of the Night in 1839.^[6] This volume sold for 75 cents^[7] and, by 1842, had gone into six editions.^[8]

In the summer of 1838, Longfellow wrote "The Light of Stars", a poem which he called "A Second Psalm of Life".^[9] His 1839 poem inspired by the death of his wife, "Footsteps of Angels", was similarly referred to as "Voices of the Night: A Third Psalm of Life".^[10] Another poem published in Voices of the Night titled "The Reaper and the Flowers" was originally subtitled "A Psalm of Death".^[11]

AnalysisEdit

The poem, written in an ABAB pattern, is meant to inspire its readers to live actively, and neither to lament the past nor to take the future for granted.^[1] The didactic message is underscored by a vigorous trochaic meter and frequent exclamation.^[8] Answering a reader's question about the poem in 1879, Longfellow himself summarized that the poem was "a transcript of my thoughts and feelings at the time I wrote, and of the conviction therein expressed, that Life is something more than an idle dream."^[12] Richard Henry Stoddard referred to the theme of the poem as a "lesson of endurance".^[13]

Longfellow wrote "A Psalm of Life" at the beginning of a period in which he showed an interest in the Judaic, particularly strong in the 1840s and 1850s. More specifically, Longfellow looked at the American versions or American responses to Jewish stories. Most notable in this strain is the poet's "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport", inspired by the Touro Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island.^[14]

Further, the influence of Goethe was noticeable. In 1854, an English acquaintance suggested "A Psalm of Life" was merely a translation. Longfellow denied this, but admitted he may have had some inspiration from him as he was writing "at the beginning of my life poetical, when a thousand songs were ringing in my ears; and doubtless many echoes and suggestions will be found in them. Let the fact go for what it is worth".^[15]"

This poem by Longfellow strikes my heart and rings the truth to me.

It seems he and I share the same fate and the same struggle.

For that matter, indeed, he shares the same fate with all of us.

Most importantly his poem reminds us, the elderly gang, of

how to live and reassures us that we with the same attitude as his 

are on the right track.

Thank you, Buddy, Henry!

It is too sad, buddy, too sad! 

I don't want to take the 'life' that seriously! 

How many years do I have left?

Do I have to count it?  For what?

BB Lee

Au contraire, Professor, please read it again.

thought the attitude of the poet towards life was identical to

what you have expressed in this space so many times.

In other words, I believe the poem emphasizes our fighting spirit and soul to the end

in spite of the approaching death and

whatever life challenges we may encounter in our journey.

"Anyone with a little interest in English poetry must have had this poem etched into memory; hence no guesses about Longfellow’s best poem. Such is its evocative eloquence, such is its superior effect on every person regardless of class, religion, and nationality that it transcends the boundaries of a mere song, and in the right sense, transforms into a psalm – a path to be followed for a glorified and righteous life. Recited at Senate meetings, public gatherings, and even at churches, this poem is sometimes speculated to have inspired Longfellow after he had come across a board in a German graveyard. Certainly his greatest, ‘Psalm of Life’ seems to have varied ideas where each quatrain is a guideline in itself.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!

These first two lines provide the impetus to how the rest of the poem is to proceed. And indeed, he is 100 percent true in conveying that instead of blaming life, one must work towards improving it by making judicious utilisation of our short lives.

Taking into account another stanza:

Trust no Future, however pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!

I can faintly remember people around me quoting the above lines to lend support to one another while in distress. The central theme never deviates from the ‘don’t give up’ catchphrase. Much credit goes to ‘A Psalm of Life’ in enabling Longfellow to leave his ‘footprints on the sands of time’ even after almost two centuries have faded from when he wrote it."(from the Internet)

‘The Arrow and the Song’.

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

*know everyone loves the above poem by Longfellow.

Analysis of A Psalm of Life

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*The sands of time is an English idiom relating the passage of time to the sand in an hourglass.