Question

Read the poem, and then answer the question.

A Psalm of Life

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.


[1] 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.

[2] 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.

[3] Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

[4] 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.

[5] 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!

[6] 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!

[7] Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

[8] Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

[9] Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.


"A Psalm of Life." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1838.




What theme is reinforced in stanza 7?
A. Listen to great men.
B. Live a life of purpose.
C. Honor the heroic dead.
D. Fear the unknown future.

Answer 1

B. Live a life of purpose.

Question:

What theme is reinforced in stanza 7?

A. Listen to great men.

B. Live a life of purpose.

C. Honor the heroic dead.

D. Fear the unknown future.

Example:

When the stanza says "Lives of great men all remind us" and the rest of it. its basically saying dont waste time on life it has a purpose.

Answer 2

(A)

Step-by-step explanation:

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Here in this stanza, we are told that great people's lives remind us that we too can be great people if we so choose to be.

I believe the answer to be (A) since the stanza tells us that we can be great by looking at great men's lives.