this is due tomorrow and i can't understand a thing!!!! so plz help.. A 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
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 men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints, on the sands of time;
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait."
-H.W.Longfellow
1.what does the poet mean by ‘life but an empty dream’?
2.What does he feel about a person who slumbers?
3.what do you understand by ‘dumb driven cattle?
4.“Be a hero in the strife”. What is the strife?
5.How can one be a hero?
6.What should we do with past?
7.what should a person do in his life?
8.what do we learn from lives of great people?
9.‘And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time’.
A)what is meant by departing?
B)Can these footprints be actually seen?
C)What do the ‘footprints’ stand for?
10.how can we achieve our goal in life?
11.Which lines in the poem do u like the best?
12.there are 12 pairs of rhyming words in the poem. Make a note of them.
13.what is the message of this poem?
14.explain what the poet means by ‘the living present’ and ‘past dead’.
2007-02-20
02:21:08
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6 answers
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asked by
Anonymous