A Psalm of Life
E29168
"A Psalm of Life" is a widely anthologized 1838 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that urges readers to live actively, purposefully, and optimistically in the face of life's brevity and challenges.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
literary work
ⓘ
poem ⓘ |
| addresses | psalmist ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist ⓘ |
| author | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ⓘ |
| copyrightStatus | public domain ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| didacticPurpose | to encourage active and purposeful living ⓘ |
| discourages |
fatalism
ⓘ
morbid preoccupation with death ⓘ passivity ⓘ |
| encourages |
leaving a positive legacy
ⓘ
living in the present ⓘ striving for noble deeds ⓘ |
| famousLine |
Act, act in the living Present!
ⓘ
Footprints on the sands of time ⓘ Life is real! Life is earnest! ⓘ Still achieving, still pursuing ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn |
The Knickerbocker magazine
ⓘ
surface form:
Knickerbocker Magazine
|
| form | stanzaic ⓘ |
| genre |
didactic poem
ⓘ
lyric poetry ⓘ |
| hasInfluenceOn |
Victorian moral verse
ⓘ
popular inspirational literature ⓘ |
| hasMoral | life should be lived actively and bravely despite its brevity ⓘ |
| hasSpeaker | young man ⓘ |
| inCollection | Voices of the Night ⓘ |
| influencedBy | Biblical psalms ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| lineCountPerStanza | 4 ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Romanticism ⓘ |
| meter | trochaic tetrameter ⓘ |
| numberOfLines | 36 ⓘ |
| numberOfStanzas | 9 ⓘ |
| openingLine | Tell me not, in mournful numbers ⓘ |
| period | 19th century American literature ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1838 ⓘ |
| rhymeScheme | ABAB ⓘ |
| subjectMatter | how to live a meaningful life ⓘ |
| targetAudience | general readers ⓘ |
| theme |
active engagement with life
ⓘ
moral courage ⓘ optimism ⓘ purposeful living ⓘ transience of life ⓘ |
| tone |
didactic
ⓘ
inspirational ⓘ |
| widelyAnthologized | true ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.