Psalm of Life

Psalm of Life

  The poem, Psalm of Life by Longfellow, is an example of a romanticism poem. A possible message of this poem is to keep going and to not give up hope or happiness, because life is short and your should make it everything you can before you time is up. This is still relevant and will always be relevant because people in any time period face struggle and need to be reminded that it gets better and that we must continue to push on every single day. A message like this will never not be relevant and it will always help someone and mean something to somebody.  This poem is criticized fro being too sappy and overly sentimental, I disagree however because just because a poem has a good message, and it about a more sensitive topic does not mean it is too sentimental. I can see how someone may see it as very sentimental, because of the language used, for example the stanza, "Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal;Dust thou art, to dust return-est, Was not spoken of the soul." All the language is very pretty and flowing, which gives off a sentimental feel and illusion. I enjoy this poem and its message and believe it should be a reminder to everyone that life does end and therefore we should not take anything for granted.