Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsA Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Overview Short Summary
This poem rejects despair and calls the reader to active, purposeful living.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Action: The poem tells readers to act in the present.
- Courage: Life is imagined as a battle where one must be heroic.
- Legacy: The footprints image shows that one person’s courage can encourage another.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is energetic, moral, and encouraging.
Craft Literary Devices
- Metaphor: Life becomes a battlefield, voyage, and march.
- Imperative voice: Commands such as “Act” and “Be” create urgency.
- Symbolism: Footprints symbolize lasting influence.
The Builders
All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.
Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.
For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.
Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.
In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.
Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.
Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.
Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.
Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.
Overview Short Summary
This poem encourages careful daily effort, reminding readers that life is built from today’s choices.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Purpose: Every action becomes part of a larger structure.
- Work and discipline: The poem values unseen effort and steady labor.
- Growth: Building upward becomes a metaphor for personal progress.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is wise, practical, and encouraging.
Craft Literary Devices
- Extended metaphor: Life is a building made from days and deeds.
- Imagery: Walls, blocks, stairways, and turrets create a clear structure.
- Moral instruction: The poem teaches through direct examples.
The Winds of Fate
One ship drives east and another drives west,
With the self-same winds that blow,
’Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
That tell them the way to go.
Like the winds of the sea are the winds of fate,
As we voyage along through life,
’Tis the set of the soul
That decides its goal
And not the calm or the strife.
Overview Short Summary
The poem says that direction depends less on circumstances and more on the inner set of the soul.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Self-direction: The “set of the sails” represents personal choice.
- Resilience: Hard winds do not have to decide the destination.
- Hope: The poem gives readers agency even in difficulty.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is clear, compact, and motivational.
Craft Literary Devices
- Metaphor: Life is compared to sailing.
- Rhyme: The simple rhyme makes the lesson memorable.
- Analogy: The ship’s sail explains how inner attitude shapes outcomes.
Worth While
It is easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears.
It is easy enough to be prudent,
When nothing tempts you to stray,
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away;
But it’s only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor on earth
Is the one that resists desire.
By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world’s highway is cumbered today;
They make up the sum of life.
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile—
It is these that are worth the homage on earth
For we find them but once in a while.
Overview Short Summary
This poem says true character appears when life becomes difficult, not when everything is easy.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Strength in hard times: Trouble reveals the real test of the heart.
- Courage: The poem praises the smile that can survive tears.
- Self-control: Virtue matters most when temptation and pressure appear.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is moral, encouraging, and steady.
Craft Literary Devices
- Contrast: Ease is compared with hardship to define true worth.
- Metaphor: The “test of the heart” makes difficulty a proving ground.
- Rhyme: The musical structure makes the advice memorable.
Solitude
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
Overview Short Summary
This poem reflects on joy, grief, and loneliness, reminding readers that strength is often required in private pain.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Emotional endurance: The poem recognizes that hardship can feel lonely.
- Reality and resilience: It does not romanticize pain, but shows why courage is needed.
- Human connection: The poem contrasts public joy with private suffering.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is sober, memorable, and reflective.
Craft Literary Devices
- Antithesis: Laugh/weep, sing/sigh, rejoice/grieve create sharp contrast.
- Parallelism: Repeated sentence patterns give the poem force.
- Metaphor: Life’s “gall” and “narrow aisles of pain” make suffering concrete.
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