I've been a Longfellow fan since fifth grade, when my class was required to memorize the first stanze of "Paul Revere's Ride". I can still recite it today, in case you're curious! Anyway, I realized at the time that I loved his style of writing, and I've since fallen in love with many of Longfellow's other poems.
Longfellow is one of the most famous poets in American history, and one of the most highly regarded. He wrote lyric poetry, usually with a very musical undertone---this is poetry that fairly begs to be read aloud. We're still studying these poems over a hundred years later, and they're rightfully acclaimed.
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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 are, 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 tomorrow
Find us farther than today.
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 sand of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm 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.
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