Lyric Poem · Inspirational

A Psalm of Life

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838

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1WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST.

2Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

3Life is but an empty dream!

4For the soul is dead that slumbers,

5And things are not what they seem.

6Life is real! Life is earnest!

7And the grave is not its goal;

8Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

9Was not spoken of the soul.

10Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

11Is our destined end or way;

12But to act, that each to-morrow

13Find us farther than to-day.

14Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

15And our hearts, though stout and brave,

16Still, like muffled drums, are beating

17Funeral marches to the grave.

18In the world's broad field of battle,

19In the bivouac of Life,

20Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

21Be a hero in the strife!

22Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

23Let the dead Past bury its dead!

24Act, — act in the living Present!

25Heart within, and God o'erhead!

26Lives of great men all remind us

27We can make our lives sublime,

28And, departing, leave behind us

29Footprints on the sands of time; —

30Footprints, that perhaps another,

31Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

32A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

33Seeing, shall take heart again.

34Let us, then, be up and doing,

35With a heart for any fate;

36Still achieving, still pursuing,

37Learn to labor and to wait.

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“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — quilloak.com/poems/a-psalm-of-life

Quick facts

Poem: A Psalm of Life
Poet: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Published: 1838
Length: 37 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
Themes: Inspirational, Life

Craft notes

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Shape: 37 lines · 10 stanzas of 1–4 lines
Line length: Lines run 7-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Author record: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882
Source record: PoetryDBA Psalm of Life by henry-wadsworth-longfellow, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: 1838
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Lyric Poem Rhyming Poems Inspirational Life

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