Life is real, life is earnest,
And the shell is not its pen –
“Egg thou art, and egg remainest”
Was not spoken of the hen.

Art is long and Time is fleeting,
Be our bills then sharpened well,
And not like muffled drums be beating
On the inside of the shell.

In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the great barnyard of life,
Be not like those lazy cattle!
Be a rooster in the strife!

Lives of roosters all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime,
And when roasted, leave behind us,
Hen tracks on the sands of time.

Hen tracks that perhaps another
Chicken drooping in the rain,
Some forlorn and henpecked brother,
When he sees, shall crow again.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem A Parody on “A Psalm of Life”

3 Comments

  1. Chuck says:

    Very clever, and so funny! Rather unexpected also, from a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

  2. Courteny says:

    i dont appreciat the way u treated that terrific poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  3. coach k says:

    funny it was

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.