THE PSALM OF LIfE

TITLE

• Guide, or way to live life

PARAPHASING

• Longfellow starts off saying he doesn't like people who don't believe in the after life
• He claims to know how the soul lives on after death...
• Believes life should be lived to the fullest to have a good eternal life...
• You should follow in the "footsteps"'of those in prior generations
• Then it is your job to live a good life and leave "footprints" on those around you

CONNOTATION

• Imagery: "still like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches"
• Simile: "be not like dumb, driven cattle"
• Symbolism: "footsteps"
• Rhyme: uses an AB rhyme scheme throughout the poem
• Metaphor: "sailing o'er life's solemn main..."

ATTITUDE

• Death is not something to fear
• Life is about moving forward every day
• Do better today, than you did yesterday
• We can affect the world with our "footprints"

SHIFT

• Stanza division after every 4 lines
• Punctuation after every line (periods,commas,colon)
• No change in theme

TITLE REVISITED

• The poem is a sacred way to live your life
• If this is the way you live life, you are a very positive and important person

THEME

• Optimism is key if you want to live live in a positive way and impact others