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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : A Psalm Of Life

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: A Psalm of Life
Biographical Information
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born to parents Stephen and Zilpah Wadsworth Longfellow on February 27th, 1807. Born to an established family in Portland, Maine, his father as a successful lawyer and politician, but also a trustee of Bowdoin College in Maine, and he sent Henry there at age 15. In the liberal arts college, Longfellow published poems and essays and fell in love with poetry. His passion was encouraged by his mother, an intelligent lover of literature and culture. Henry Longfellow was a brilliant student in school and graduated in 1825, then choosing to study abroad for three years in Europe where he studied language and became entranced by Old World …show more content…

Longfellow was a successful writer during and after his death. The topics of Longfellow’s poem varied vastly, writing about slavery, American Indians, poetry of other countries, and writing ballads and epic poems, but with the general trend of American history. (bio) Longfellow received many awards throughout his life, being admired by Queen Victoria, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Prime Minister William Gladstone, Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde among others. (biography.org) “Longfellow was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from Oxford and Cambridge universities, and after his death was the first American to be included in Poets ' Corner of Westminster Abbey in London”.

Poem Analysis The poem below expresses the optimism of a young man in defiance to the traditional ways of the old man. Longfellow wants the reader to be inspired to live each day to the fullest, and leave a positive mark on the world so that another can be inspired in the same way. In “A Psalm of Life”, Longfellow’s use of metaphors and tone work in harmony to reveal the theme that one should not waste life, but strive for excellence.
A Psalm of Life
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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!

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