understand this poem and answer the question.?

Question

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’.

Answer 1

1.It means life is not an illusion.

2.The poet says that if a man is inactive and does not contribute to the welfare of the society ,he is no less than a dead person.

3.It means foolish cattle which are forced to move in one direction.here it means that we must not be submissive and must not be moved by particular things.We must possess orignality.

4.Strife means battle.

5.we must have a heroic spirit.We must be submissive and possess orignality.

6.he says we must not think abt its glories or failures.Let worries end with the day.

7.We must plant our feets firmly in the present and work,work hard to achieve his goal.

8.Lifes of great men teach us how to work and achieve our goals.We can get fulfilment and make our lives sublime.

9.a It means dying,going away 4rm this world
b No
c Footprints are their examples which inspire us to make our life sublime.

10.By working hard and doing meaningful actions.

11.Dust thou art,to dust returnest.

12.number-slumber,dream-seem, earnest-returnest,goal-soul,sorrow-2morrow,way-2day,fleeting-beating,brave-grave,battle-cattle,life-strife,plesant-present,dead-overhead,fate -wait,doing-pursuing,sublime-time

13.It is an inspirational poem of lofty thoughts,lucid language and forward looking world veiw.It teaches not to overboard with sucess nor 2 wallow in self pitty in case of failures.Life is not an empty dream so long as we work hard 2 fulfil our goals.The poem appeals 2 most of d people 4 its motivational value.

14.He means act while u have time,orelse it will be too late.
He says since the past is already over let not its shadow fall upon us.

Hope this was of help!

Answer 2

Just take one verse, or even one line at a time, don't be overwhelmed by reading the whole thing and trying to grasp it.
1. Life is but an empty dream--he's saying life is empty, and compares it to a dream, where things don't really matter that much anyway.
2. A soul that slumbers is dead--or as good as dead.
3. "Be not like dumb driven cattle"--think of a herd of cattle being driven--it doesn't choose where to go, when to start, when to start--no choice but to do whatever it's told.
4. The strife (line 2 of that stanza) = life.
5. Be a hero--you can fill that in--what is something that can be done that you feel is heroic--something unique and personal.
6. Let the dead past bury its dead--so, you forget the past and go forward.
7. One thing that makes these questions easy is that they go in order down the poem, so you always know where to look for the answer. So, this refers to the rest of that stanza.
8. Go on to the next stanza, where it starts, Lives of men..." Your teacher threw in that part about great people, although it's justified.
9. Departing--oh, come one, you've heard about funeral directors referring to "the dear departed"
Footprints seen--this is a figure of speech, not actual tracks.
Stand for?--something people can remember about us.
10. Now, that's the last stanza.
11. Which line you like best--that's your call.
12. Rhyming words--the last word of each first line rhymes with the last word of each 3rd line; also the 2nd & 4th lines.
13. Message--do something with your life.
14. That's pretty self-explanatory.

Answer 3

1. He's saying please don't tell me that life is not worth living and nothing is attainable.

2. It's saying if your soul is sleeping, you are not using it and you might as well be dead because a person with no soul is dead.

3. These people do not think for themselves, society thinks for them and they are all the same. They are followers.

4. The strife is not going along with what everyone else is doing, being different and taking advantage of every opportunity

5. Go out and make a difference in your life and in this world.

6. We need to learn from the past and not make the same mistakes but let the past be the past/dead.

7. Make a difference for future generations and be remembered.

8. That each person can make a difference in other's lives if they work hard.

9A. Dying
9B No, they are memories..they are remembered
9C A legacy - the hard work, ambition & accomplishments of those before us

10. Work hard and be patient

11. Act, act in the living present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Because it's telling me to live my life in the present and act with my heart and know that whatever decisions I make, God is always with me.

12. numbers/slumbers dream/seem goal/soul
etc. The last words in every other line.

13. Just live. Don't be hindered by the fear of death, or whatever mistakes you might have made before, live for the here and now and only plan ahead that far. The is no concrete point in life, nothing is sure and steady, so don't live like it is going to be that way.

14. Don't worry about things that have already happened, they are dead and cannot be changed. Live life in the now, day by day with no regrets.

Answer 4

1. Some people think that life is not worth living. Don't be like them.
2 A person who slumbers is a lazy guy always half asleep.
3. Someone who makes no effort to do anything on his own.
4 Whatever you want, you have to strive for. That's where the stife comes in.
5 By sheer will power.
6. Have no regrets for the past. Remember "The past is history, the future is mystery, this moment is a gift from God. That is why it is called the "present".
7. Try to make it sublime, so that he can leave footprints on the sands of time, in other words, be remembered.
8. That we can also be like them if we work hard.
9.A. Departing means "dying".
9 B. Literally, no, but metaphorically yes.
10. By working hard.
11. "Heart within, and God oérhead."
12. The last words of the first and third, and the second and fourth linesof each paragraph.
13. The message is very simple. The future of mankind, and individuals like ourselves can be shaped by our own efforts.
14. See my answer to Q6.
.

Answer 5

I am a teacher of American Literature so hope I can help you.
1) life is something unreal, something that comes before the "real thing", and that for the Romantics, including Longfellow, was the main idea. The real thing is death and we should all await it happily. so life is something empty and unreal and death is real for him, because life is like a dream, imaginary.
2) a person who slumbers is a person actually sleeps which is connected to my prevoius statement that life is a dream, so it refers to one who isn't awaiting death, only living his/her life. he doesn't respect those people.
3) cattle are animals who don't do anything worthy to mention but graze and sleep, and that's probably it. so he wants to point out that we shouldn't be dumb like them and know nothing alse in life. Do something! Be active!
4) the strife refering to the whole crowd of people, the population. try to be an individual! not like the rest, be different!
5) one can be a hero only when they are different by the things they have done or achieved in life. and again try to be different!
6) we should not live in the past moment, because it is PAST. Live in the present, and bury the past.
7) everything is explained in the previous answers. a person should try to be differerent by the actions that he/she takes.
8) we learn that they too have lived in their present moment, but looking at it now, what they have done in the past has left footprints, they ahve probably achieved many successes that they will not die out but will be remembered by their footsteps.
9) A - dying, or leaving this unreal dream, this earthly world, and departing to another better life, a better place for everybody.
B - no, they can't. they are imaginary, because he refers to what one person has done in their lifetime, as I said the achievements.
C - look at B
10) we can achieve it easily just by leaving the past behind us, and thinking about the present, and the future as well.
11) now this is up to you!! :))
12) they are called RHYMING COUPLETS (for example - numbers-slumbers; dream-seem, and you can see the rest)
13) SEIZE THE DAY!
14) live in the present, and leave the dead past alone, don'tthink about it because it is dead!

I hope you got all your needed answers.

Answer 6

1. What central question does Langston Hughes ask? I believe that this question being asked is about how someone perceives as dream, and what effect it has on the dreamer 2. How does Hughes answer the central question? "Does it dry up" does it grow old and neglected, unattended, does it not affect the dreamer "like a raisin in the sun?" day in day out dreams come and go and mature and left alone and not revisited like a grape riping and shrivelling intoa raison naturally. "Or fester like a sore-- And then run?" or does the dream ruffle your feathers emotionally, laying heavy on your mind out of control- "festering" brewing and over-thinking thats its almost infectious and takes over your mind. "Does it stink like rotten meat?" continuing with the infectious mannerism of the Sore mentioned in previous line, the dream/ situation is referring to using personification and metaphor gives the dream human characteristics, stink like rotten meat a foul smell, a metaphor again for the dream evoking and stirring upsetting you like the stench of rotten meat. "Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?" or is it the opposite to the above? is it sugar coated do you perceive your dream and think of the optimistic side of what you think your dream can mean, make the most and believe what you want to believe. Even if it's a bad dream do you still manage to see the good side.. or make up the ending because you were awakened just when it was concluding. "Maybe it just sags, like a heavy load. Or does it explode?" "Sags", could possibly mean hangs around, like a bad smell, sagging can refer to something that happens over time, after along period of mulling over your dream. Mentally and physically wears you down like holding a " heavy load" that wear you down after lugging it around for a while. "Or does it explode?" Or is your response to a stirring dream instant. 3. What is Hughes’ message in this poem? Asks the reader how the dreamer deals with emotional situations of dreams, how they react and how the feel, most of question 3 is explained above. Hope this helps