Question

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.

Explain​

Answer 1

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To him, grave is not the ultimate goal of life; life does not end with death. ... He thinks, “Dust thou art, to dust thou returnest” (You are made of dust, and you will go back to dust after death) is only spoken of the body and it is not applicable to the soul.

Answer 2

In the first line, the speaker asserts that life is something tangible and has qualities of depth and significance. In the second line, when “grave” symbolizes death, the phrase declares that the purpose of life is not death. From a stylistic view, the semicolon in this line is meant to denote a long pause to initiate drama and immersed thought. This is because the speaker is proclaiming to the audience that, contrary to their perception, there is meaning and legitimacy to life. The third and fourth lines, “‘Dust thou art, to dust returnest’ / was not spoken of the soul,” juxtapose the restriction of “coming full circle” with the apparent boundlessness of the soul. The body may disappear just as quickly as it appeared, but the soul is not involved in this expiration. Quoted from Genesis 3:19, the quote not only supplies evidence of Judeo-Christian influence but also highlights the poem’s imitation of a psalm.