A+Psalm+of+Life

One such important poet from the group was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It could be argued that his poem "A Psalm of Life" offers a comforting message to the reader. One notices the rhyme scheme of the poem as: A B A B and the stresses in each line. These create a tone that is consistent throughout the poem. The speaker provides the reader with a comforting message in the second stanza "Life is real-life is earnest-" (line 5). One can observe that the first five stanzas are making a statement to the reader of not worrying about the past and to think of the present in order to make a better future. In stanza six the speaker says "Act-act in the glorious Present!" (23). It could be argued that the idea of "Carpe Diem" comes into play here. The speaker is telling the reader to live in the present and contribute to society. Finally the speaker says "Learn to labor and to wait" (35). From this last line one can conclude that the speaker is trying to convey the message of not expecting results immediately.

=**National Period Influence**=

It could be argued that there is influence from the Early National Period. The speaker is conveying a message of having a positive attitude towards life and contributing to society. The poets of the Revolutionary Era and after the era conveyed similar messages in order to stimulate the masses of the country to contribute the building of the nation. The people of the new America would need to work hard and become independent of nations such as Britain. Perhaps Longfellow was thinking of Freneau's "On Mr. Paine's Rights of Man". This surely would have provided a type of inspiration to a poet who was living in an America that was rapidly changing.