A Psalm of Life Essay Questions

What was the United States like in 1838, the year in which the poem was written?

Politically, this was the era of Jacksonian democracy. Jackson had been elected president in 1828 and 1832, and vociferously supported and was supported by the common man. Men of all social classes flooded the polls and made politics a raucous, passionate, and popular activity. Jackson stoked support for U.S. nationalism and its corollary doctrine of "manifest destiny," which held that God had ordained Americans to move West and spread their way of life. The continuing presence of slavery led to tension, which bubbled to the surface over and over again throughout the decade. Reform movements and transcendentalism swept the land, advocating authenticity, individualism, and social responsibility. Economically, the market revolution was in full steam. Railroads and the steamboats represented new modes of moving people and goods, canals were dug, and telegrams allowed people to communicate in ways they'd never done before. The West became a major economic region. All of these changes were exciting but somewhat unsettling to Americans, making this poem's optimism and can-do spirit all the more revealing.

What is the general message of the poem?

Longfellow advocates that young men make the most of their lives (which are, of course, ephemeral) by molding and shaping their behavior and their thoughts in an upright, moral, and industrious fashion. They should work to act and to achieve, to serve as a good example for others. They should strive to be more than dumb beasts; passivity is not a virtue. They must accept what comes their way but always endeavor to be better.