Friday, February 27, 2009

Pslam* (for Psalm*)

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;--

-- from Longfellow's A Psalm of Life

February 27th is the anniversary of the birth of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, born in Maine in 1807. He wrote about historical figures such as Paul Revere and Hiawatha, and was instrumental in popularizing poetry in the United States during the 19th century.

His poems are characterized by their gentleness, simplicity, and Romantic spirit, as well as their strong sense of meter, all qualities displayed in the above excerpt from "A Psalm of Life".

Pslam*, a misspelling of psalm*, is a high probability typo on the Ballard list, appearing 36 times in OhioLINK and over 260 in WorldCat!

Leanne Olson

(Photo from tobym's Flickr photostream)

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