What does the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow compare our heartbeats to in his poem ‘A Psalm of Life’? Why does he compare those?
3 Answers
The poet compares our heartbeats to the beating of clothed drums at the funeral marches to the grave.
The poet says that though our hearts are brave and stout at other times, we fear death, and our heart starts beating when we realize that Death is certainly coming our way bit by bit. Longfellow rightly compares this situation of our heart to the beating of muffled drums.
Heart beat is compared to the muffled drums. The comparison is made as the heart beat are the marches to funeral procession to the grave. Even though our hearts are stout and brave our hearts fear of deaths and as the heart beat increases the death comes closer to us bit by bit. Thus the heart beats are the marches towards the grave.
The heart beat is compared to the muffled drums in one’s funeral procession. This impart a sadness to the atmosphere. The poet tells us that the grave is not our life’s goal and our hearts must not beat like those muffled drums when we realize that death is coming nearer to us.