Longfellows Optimism In Writin

Part I of Essay
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart.” This is a saying Longfellow read in Germany where his wife died. The words gave him hope f ....

Part II of Essay
.... the next line he says “And the grave is not its goal”. Longfellow feels you don’t live to die. Death is not the point of living a just life. Lastly in this stanza, he states, ”Dust thou art, o dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul”. Our bodies will turn to dust but the soul will live on. He feel there is an afterlife and we are here forever in spirit. But what we do with our time on earth is what makes us eternal because we are remembered for how we lived our lives. (Lines 5-8, pg. 302) ....