I am in love with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!
In the beginning of this poem Longfellow says, "Tell me not in mournful numbers, Life is but a dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what they seem." It sort of seems like he's trying to reject Neoclassicism and reason by arguing that life is not something you can just analyze or find the answer to, you just have to enjoy it.
This poem also reminded me of another quote from Longfellow:
"Heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight but, while their companions slept, they were toiling upward in the night." It is a lot like the lines "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!" This is really inspiring and very Romantic (of course). I really like the message Longfellow is trying to get across is that you should take out of life whatever you can get and you should find your own path and way to change the world.
This poem is different form other poems we have read by Longfellow. Some of the other poems mainly focus on death, but this one is all about living in the present. Of course, Longfellow is a Romantic so he is naturally extremely optimistic, but I can't help liking the way he writes about life (and death). He makes everything feel so comforting. I know that it would probably never work, but it makes me wonder what life would be like if more people had this philosophy towards life. This is all so inspiring, but then you have to remember that the Romantic movement is dead.
However I am a little confused about the stanza about leaving "behind us footprints in the sands of time" to help "a forlorn and shipwrecked brother." Does anybody else find it peculiar that he chose "the sands of time?" Sand is so not permanent at all; it can be moved and erase our tracks so easily. So how why would he use sand when he's talking about leaving a lasting impact on society?
2 comments:
Hey, it's Erin.
I agree with Deirdre; I liked Longfellow even before we started reading these packets.
I think that maybe the reason he used "sands of time" is because there is sort of an association between time and sand (an hourglass). Of course, you can't leave footprints in that. Maybe another reason he used sand is because time is very stable either; it shifts and moves. I don't know if any of you have heard of the poem Footprints, about a man walking on the beach with God, but his words reminded me of that (although I have no idea when it was written) because the poem is comforting and in Longfellow's poem the lost, forlorn person was supposed to find comfort and courage in the trail of a previous person.
I thought of that poem too for some reason, but I still can't make any connections.
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