Plan: American Poets

Ezra Pound

A very famous (or infamous) name in the American literary world, Ezra Pound was the founder of the Imagist movement in poetry. Imagism is a type of poetry genre where the words are used economically, and the subjects are concrete and not abstractions. Ezra Pound started many other movements and had many controversies. He was also said to be a major supporter of fascism. 

Our pick: A Pact
I make truce with you, Walt Whitman—
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has had a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.
H.W Longfellow

With his iconic beard that could rival Darwin’s and a poetic genius that created literary masterpieces, H.W. Longfellow is a planted name in the world of poetry. Longfellow’s poems are thought-provoking, philosophical, and with such profound meaning that you’d want to read his poems every day. 

And keeping all that points in mind, the poem we choose to represent Longfellow’s works with all their essence is A Psalm of Life. It is one of the most inspirational and empowering poems. Take a look:
A Psalm of Life
What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist
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.
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.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Finds us farther than to-day.
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.
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!
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!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait.
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