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What does Longfellow compare life to in "A Psalm of Life" and what are the implications of each?

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In "A Psalm of Life," Longfellow compares life to a journey, a battle, and footprints in the sand. He emphasizes life's reality and importance, rejecting the notion that it is a mere dream. Life is transient and heroic, akin to a bivouac or a "solemn main." These comparisons imply that life should be lived with purpose and courage, creating a legacy that guides others. Longfellow stresses the significance of living earnestly and positively.

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In "Psalm of Life," Longfellow's speaker compares life to the following things:

First, he likens it to something "real," saying that it is not a dream or a prelude to the afterlife, but a solid thing of substance in and of itself.

Second, without coming out and saying so directly, he compares life to journey. He states that there is a "destined end" and that each day should take us a little closer to that goal, as if we are traveling to a new city far away. That end, he makes clear, is not death, but the contributions we are meant to make to the world while alive in the here and now.

Third, the speaker compares life to a battle and urges us to be heroes as we fight.

Further, the speaker compares the life lived well to footprints in the sand that others can follow.

The implication of...

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all of these comparisons is that life itself is important, and more specifically,how we live it is important. We should accept it as a journey and a battle, and, rather than shy away from its difficulties, accept our tasks heroically. If we live well, we then become a pattern—a set of footprints—that can guide others on their own journeys.

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In A Psalm of Life, what does Longfellow compare life to, and why?

The first comparison in the poem is one Longfellow rejects. It comes from the mournful psalmist who, in the first verse, claims that life is "an empty dream." All of Longfellow's own images that follow are refutations of this.

The first specific image of life in general (as opposed to any one particular life) is a bivouac. This shows that while the poet will not accept that life is merely a dream, he understands and emphasizes its fleeting nature. A bivouac is a camp even more temporary than most camps, often pitched in haste by soldiers or mountaineers who need shelter for a single night and made from whatever materials come to hand. This shows not only the transience of life but also its heroism, since it is implicitly compared to courageous endeavors such as fighting a battle or climbing a mountain.

Life is also compared to a "solemn main"—a calm sea—although the presence of a "shipwrecked brother" in the next line shows that it is not always so calm. This is consonant with the more abstract descriptions of life as "real" and "earnest," something to be mastered by one with the correct positive, heroic attitude to its trials and tribulations.

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