Summer Session – Mr.

McGee
Psalm of Life
By Sarah Staley

Psalm  of  Life  

Level  1  –  What  does  the  text  say?  

Stanza  2  
• Life is hard and it won’t always be easy
• You don’t just live your life to die
• “Dust thou art to dust returnest” – Shakespeare
o If you die you are put in the ground and you become dirt
o Man was created from the dirt
• How do you define the soul?
• How do you want to be remembered?
o Don’t ask this question when you are old – it’s all done
• What does he say about living?
o Living has meaning if you decide it has meaning, you have to live your life.

Level  2a  
• What are the major themes and messages?
o Live life

Level  2b  
• Rhetoric – not what the author says, but how the author says it
• Poetic Rhythm
o Da dum da dum da dum da dum
o Tell me not in mournful numbers

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Summer Session – Mr. McGee
Psalm of Life
By Sarah Staley

Level  3a  
• Red Badge of Courage Chapter 1 – what is the relationship?
o Story about going off to war where you fight and die
o You can die in war – it will change you – hurt your soul

6/7/13
• Lines and stanzas
o Line by line of the poem
o Stanza is a collection/group of lines

Stanza  3  
Level  1  
• Not enjoyment, and not sorrow…
o Life is not about enjoyment, being sad
• But to act…
o Move forward, do today something you didn’t do yesterday
o Learn something new every day, advance yourself

Stanza  4  
Level  1  
• In Longfellow’s time people died at home and were pulled in a carriage by horses to the
grave.
• The mourners walked behind the carriage led by a person hitting a drum very slowly
• The rhythm of the drum is the rhythm of the pulse/heartbeat
• Art is long…
o Art outlasts the artist
• Time is fleeting…
o Time is short
• And our hearts…
o We are young now
• Still, like muffled drums…
o Some day our hearts will stop beating
• You are breathing but not for long, spend the precious time you have with your loved
ones the best you can

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Summer Session – Mr. McGee
Psalm of Life
By Sarah Staley

Stanza  5  

Level  1  
• Bivouac - A temporary camp without tents or cover.
• Referring to life in battle terms, preparing to fight
• Be not like…
o Don’t try to be like everyone else, normal
• Be a hero…
o Be an individual
• Strife – fight

Stanza  6  
Level  1  
• Focus on the future, don’t worry about the past
• Act in the living present…
• Live in the moment

Level  2b  
• We live in three places
o In the future, worrying about our choices (you don’t know what it coming)
o In the past (you can’t undo the past, gone and buried)
o All you really have is the present, the future never really actually gets here

Stanza  7  
Level1  
• Lives of great men…
o This is a reminder that we can make our own lives “sublime”
o Sublime – lofty - grand - noble - exalted - elevated - stately

Level  3a  
• A game of reference to a very famous novel
o Robinson Crusoe – man shipwrecked on an island
o He knows that he will be alone and never see anyone ever again
o He builds a great tree house
o He walks around the island, sees footprints in the sand in front of him
o At first he is excited and then he is afraid of who else is on the island

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Summer Session – Mr. McGee
Psalm of Life
By Sarah Staley

o Cannibals have come to the island to make a sacrifice

Stanza  8  
Level  1  
• Footprints…
o Perhaps we can leave such a great legacy that others who are down will see our
own lives and see it as inspiration in their own lives
• Whether you choose it or not you are looked up to, observed by the younger generation
• You can start today to make your life one that you are proud of
• You can’t be ashamed of your past, waste of energy, you can’t change it
• Move forward

Stanza  9  
Level  1  
• Let us, then…
o Longfellow’s challenge
o It’s time to wake up
o We are like zombies, cows
o Your life is passing you by
o Be open to the fact that some days are crap, some are great
o Don’t ask “why is this happening to me”
o Ask “why is it happening for me”
• We have to learn how to work
o The opposite of work is death
• Learn how to wait, be patient