"The Builders" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.

Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Just from glancing at the title of this poem, you assume that something is being built... but what? From my understanding, we are the builders and the structures that we raise are our lives. The premise as a whole is that each day is a block we lay down to build the characteristics of our life. What blocks we lay down are up to us; At the end of the day, our life is based off the blocks choose. However, a skyscraper isn't built over night. Similarly, nor are our lives. It takes time, hard work, and resilience. Longfellow uses anastrophe to say, “Time is with materials filled” to underline that building something worthwhile takes time. Time is also mentioned another time to reiterate that it is imperative to make the most of what time we do have.  

When I read this poem for the first time, I liked that there was a consistent rhyme scheme of abab. Not only did it make it easier to memorize, but it also added a nice flow. But when I reached the final stanza, I had no idea what a turret was. After googling it, I learned that it was a high tower, typically seen in castles or ancient buildings. As the poem says, it is only from higher perspective or a wiser angle, that we can see what's worth building our lives around.

The final lines that say, “Where the eye sees the world as one vast plain and one boundless reach of sky” are akin to the grasp of infinity found in William Blake’s lines. To see the truth, beauty, and life is things, you'll find that it takes a different perspective or vantage point to discover them.