Poems and Other Writings

by McClatchy, J. D.

• ISBN13: 9781883011857
• ISBN10: 188301185X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-01
• Publisher: Library of America

Summary

No American writer of the 19th century was more universally enjoyed and admired than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His works were extraordinary bestsellers for their era, achieving fame both here and abroad. Now, for the first time in over 25 years. Poems and Other Writings offers a full-scale literary portrait of America's greatest popular poet. Here are the poems that created an American mythology: Evangeline in the forest primeval, Hiawatha by the shores of Gitchee Gumee, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the wreck of the Hesperus, the village blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree, the strange courtship of Miles Standish, the maiden Priscilla and the hesitant John Alden; verses, like "A Psalm of Life" and the "The Children's Hour", whose phrases and characters have become part of the culture. Erudite and fluent in many languages, Longfellow was endlessly fascinated with the byways of history and the curiosities of legend. His many poems on literary themes, such as his moving homages to Dante and Chaucer, his verse translations from Lope de Vega, Heinrich Heine, and Michelangelo, and his ambitious verse dramas, notably The New England Tragedies (also complete), are remarkable in their range and ambition. As a special feature, this volume restores to print Longfellow's novel Kavanagh, a study of small-town life and literary ambition that was praised by Emerson as an important contribution to the development of American fiction. A selection of essays rounds out of the volume and provides testimony to Longfellow's concern with creating an American national literature.

Table of Contents

The Spirit of Poetry	p. 1
Hymn to the Night	p. 2
A Psalm of Life	p. 3
The Light of Stars	p. 4
Footsteps of Angels	p. 6
The Skeleton in Armor	p. 8
The Wreck of the Hesperus	p. 12
The Village Blacksmith	p. 15
It Is Not Always May	p. 17
The Rainy Day	p. 18
God's-Acre	p. 18
To the River Charles	p. 19
The Goblet of Life	p. 20
Excelsior	p. 22
The Slave's Dream	p. 24
The Slave Singing at Midnight	p. 25
The Witnesses	p. 26
The Warning	p. 27
The Belfry of Bruges	p. 29
A Glean of Sunshine	p. 31
The Arsenal at Springfield	p. 33
Rain in Summer	p. 35
To a Child	p. 37
The Occultation of Orion	p. 43
The Bridge	p. 45
To the Driving Cloud	p. 47
The Day Is Done	p. 48
Afternoon in February	p. 50
The Old Clock on the Stairs	p. 51
The Arrow and the Song	p. 53
The Evening Star	p. 53
Autumn	p. 54
Dante	p. 54
Curfew	p. 55
Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie	p. 57
The Building of the Ship	p. 116
Seaweed	p. 127
Chrysaor	p. 128
Twilight	p. 129
Sir Humphrey Gilbert	p. 130
The Lighthouse	p. 131
The Fire of Drift-Wood	p. 133
Resignation	p. 135
The Builders	p. 136
Sand of the Desert in an Hour-Glass	p. 138
The Open Window	p. 139
The Song of Hiawatha	p. 141
The Courtship of Miles Standish	p. 280
Birds of Passage	p. 323
The Ladder of St. Augustine	p. 324
The Phantom Ship	p. 326
The Warden of the Cinque Ports	p. 328
Haunted Houses	p. 329
In the Churchyard at Cambridge	p. 331
The Emperor's Bird's-Nest	p. 331
The Two Angels	p. 333
Daylight and Moonlight	p. 335
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport	p. 335
My Lost Youth	p. 337
The Ropewalk	p. 340
Daybreak	p. 342
The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz	p. 343
Children	p. 344
Sandalphon	p. 345
The Children's Hour	p. 347
Enceladus	p. 348
The Cumberland	p. 349
Snow-Flakes	p. 351
A Day of Sunshine	p. 351
Something Left Undone	p. 352
Weariness	p. 353
Prelude: The Wayside Inn	p. 354
The Landlord's Tale: Paul Revere's Ride	p. 362
Interlude	p. 366
The Student's Tale: The Falcon of Ser Federigo	p. 367
Interlude	p. 375
The Spanish Jew's Tale: The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi	p. 376
Interlude	p. 378
The Sicilian's Tale: King Robert of Sicily	p. 379
Interlude	p. 385
The Musician's Tale: The Saga of King Olaf	p. 386
Interlude	p. 431
The Theologian's Tale: Torquemada	p. 433
Interlude	p. 439
The Poet's Tale: The Birds of Killingworth	p. 440
Finale	p. 446
The Spanish Jew's Tale: Kambalu	p. 447
The Student's Tale: The Cobbler of Hagenau	p. 450
The Theologian's Tale: The Legend Beautiful	p. 456
The Spanish Jew's Tale: Azrael	p. 460
The Sicilian's Tale: The Monk of Casal-Maggiore	p. 461
Finale	p. 469
Palingenesis	p. 472
Hawthorne	p. 474
Christmas Bells	p. 475
The Wind Over the Chimney	p. 476
Killed at the Ford	p. 478
Giotto's Tower	p. 479
Divina Commedia	p. 480
Mount Quarantania	p. 483
The Tower of Magdala	p. 485
Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre	p. 488
Pontius Pilate	p. 492
Aceldama	p. 494
A Covered Bridge at Lucerne	p. 495
The Devil's Bridge	p. 498
The St. Gothard Pass	p. 500
John Endicott	p. 502
Giles Corey of the Salem Farms	p. 561
Finale: St. John	p. 612
The Haunted Chamber	p. 615
The Meeting	p. 616
Vox Populi	p. 617
Changed	p. 617
The Challenge	p. 618
Aftermath	p. 619
Morituri Salutamus	p. 620
Belisarius	p. 628
Three Friends of Mine	p. 629
Chaucer	p. 631
Shakespeare	p. 632
Milton	p. 632
Keats	p. 633
The Galaxy	p. 633
The Sound of the Sea	p. 634
A Nameless Grave	p. 634
Keramos	p. 635
Vittoria Colonna	p. 646
The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face	p. 648
Nature	p. 649
Eliot's Oak	p. 650
The Poets	p. 650
The Harvest Moon	p. 651
The Broken Oar	p. 651
Haroun Al Raschid	p. 652
Venice	p. 652
The Three Silences of Molinos	p. 653
The Chamber Over the Gate	p. 654
Jugurtha	p. 655
Helen of Tyre	p. 656
Elegiac	p. 657
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls	p. 658
My Cathedral	p. 658
The Burial of the Poet	p. 659
Night	p. 659
The Poet and His Songs	p. 660
The Poet's Calendar	p. 661
Autumn Within	p. 664
Victor and Vanquished	p. 665
Moonlight	p. 665
Hermes Trismegistus	p. 666
The Bells of San Blas	p. 669
Mezzo Cammin	p. 671
The Cross of Snow	p. 671
Dedication	p. 672
The Last Judgment	p. 672
"I turn for consolation to the leaves,"	p. 675
Viterbo	p. 676
"How will men speak of me when I am gone,"	p. 677
Monologue	p. 678
In the Coliseum	p. 679
The Oaks of Monte Luca	p. 683
The Dead Christ	p. 687
The Celestial Pilot	p. 690
The Terrestrial Paradise	p. 691
Beatrice	p. 692
The Good Shepherd	p. 693
To-morrow	p. 694
Santa Teresa's Book-Mark	p. 694
Let Me Go Warm	p. 695
The Sea Hath Its Pearls	p. 696
Retribution	p. 697
The Grave	p. 697
Rondel	p. 698
The Artist	p. 699
To Vittoria Colonna	p. 699
Dante	p. 700
A Neapolitan Canzonet	p. 700
Kavanagh, A Tale	p. 703
The Literary Spirit of Our Country	p. 791
Table-Talk	p. 796
Address on the Death of Washington Irving	p. 800
Chronology	p. 805
Note on the Texts	p. 816
Notes	p. 824
Index of Titles and First Lines	p. 850
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chapter One

from

THE VOICES OF THE NIGHT

The Spirit of Poetry

There is a quiet spirit in these woods,

That dwells where'er the gentle south-wind blows;

Where, underneath the white-thorn, in the glade,

The wild flowers bloom, or, kissing the soft air,

The leaves above their sunny palms outspread.

With what a tender and impassioned voice

It fills the nice and delicate ear of thought,

When the fast ushering star of morning comes

O'er-riding the gray hills with golden scarf;

Or when the cowled and dusky-sandalled Eve,

In mourning weeds, from out the western gate,

Departs with silent pace! That spirit moves

In the green valley, where the silver brook,

From its full laver, pours the white cascade;

And, babbling low amid the tangled woods,

Slips down through moss-grown stones with endless

    laughter.

And frequent, on the everlasting hills,

Its feet go forth, when it doth wrap itself

In all the dark embroidery of the storm,

And shouts the stern, strong wind. And here, amid

The silent majesty of these deep woods,

Its presence shall uplift thy thoughts from earth,

As to the sunshine and the pure, bright air

Their tops the green trees lift. Hence gifted bards

Have ever loved the calm and quiet shades.

For them there was an eloquent voice in all

The sylvan pomp of woods, the golden sun,

The flowers, the leaves, the river on its way,

Blue skies, and silver clouds, and gentle winds,

The swelling upland, where the sidelong sun

Aslant the wooded slope, at evening, goes,

Groves, through whose broken roof the sky looks in,

Mountain, and shattered cliff, and sunny vale,

The distant lake, fountains, and mighty trees,

In many a lazy syllable, repeating

Their old poetic legends to the wind.

    And this is the sweet spirit, that doth fill

The world; and, in these wayward days of youth,

My busy fancy oft embodies it,

As a bright image of the light and beauty

That dwell in nature; of the heavenly forms

We worship in our dreams, and the soft hues

That stain the wild bird's wing, and flush the clouds

When the sun sets. Within her tender eye

The heaven of April, with its changing light,

And when it wears the blue of May, is hung,

And on her lip the rich, red rose. Her hair

Is like the summer tresses of the trees,

When twilight makes them brown, and on her cheek

Blushes the richness of an autumn sky,

With ever-shifting beauty. Then her breath,

It is so like the gentle air of Spring,

As, from the morning's dewy flowers, it comes

Full of their fragrance, that it is a joy

To have it round us, and her silver voice

Is the rich music of a summer bird,

Heard in the still night, with its passionate cadence.

Hymn to the Night

[GREEK TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

I heard the trailing garments of the Night

    Sweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light

    From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might,

    Stoop o'er me from above;

The calm, majestic presence of the Night,

    As of the one I love.

I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,

    The manifold, soft chimes,

That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,

    Like some old poet's rhymes.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight air

    My spirit drank repose;

The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,--

    From those deep cisterns flows.

O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear

    What man has borne before!

Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,

    And they complain no more.

Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!

    Descend with broad-winged flight,

The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,

    The best-beloved Night!

A Psalm of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

    Life is but an empty dream!--

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

    And things are not what they seem.

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.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

    Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

    Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

    And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

    Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

    In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

    Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

    Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,--act in the living Present!

    Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

    We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

    Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

    Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

    Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

    With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

    Learn to labor and to wait.

The Light of Stars

The night is come, but not too soon;

    And sinking silently,

All silently, the little moon

Drops down behind the sky.

There is no light in earth or heaven

    But the cold light of stars;

And the first watch of night is given

    To the red planet Mars.

Is it the tender star of love?

    The star of love and dreams?

Oh no! from that blue tent above

    A hero's armor gleams.

And earnest thoughts within me rise,

    When I behold afar,

Suspended in the evening skies,

    The shield of that red star.

O star of strength! I see thee stand

    And smile upon my pain;

Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,

    And I am strong again.

Within my breast there is no light

    But the cold light of stars;

I give the first watch of the night

    To the red planet Mars.

The star of the unconquered will,

    He rises in my breast,

Serene, and resolute, and still,

    And calm, and self-possessed.

And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art,

    That readest this brief psalm,

As one by one thy hopes depart,

    Be resolute and calm.

Oh, fear not in a world like this,

    And thou shalt know erelong,

Know how sublime a thing it is

    To suffer and be strong.

Footsteps of Angels

When the hours of Day are numbered,

    And the voices of the Night

Wake the better soul, that slumbered,

    To a holy, calm delight;

Ere the evening lamps are lighted,

    And, like phantoms grim and tall,

Shadows from the fitful firelight

    Dance upon the parlor wall;

Then the forms of the departed

    Enter at the open door;

The beloved, the true-hearted,

    Come to visit me once more;

He, the young and strong, who cherished

    Noble longings for the strife,

By the roadside fell and perished,

    Weary with the march of life!

They, the holy ones and weakly,

    Who the cross of suffering bore,

Folded their pale hands so meekly,

    Spake with us on earth no more!

And with them the Being Beauteous,

    Who unto my youth was given,

More than all things else to love me,

    And is now a saint in heaven.

With a slow and noiseless footstep

    Comes that messenger divine,

Takes the vacant chair beside me,

    Lays her gentle hand in mine.

And she sits and gazes at me

    With those deep and tender eyes,

Like the stars, so still and saint-like,

    Looking downward from the skies.

Uttered not, yet comprehended,

    Is the spirit's voiceless prayer,

Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,

    Breathing from her lips of air.

Oh, though oft depressed and lonely,

    All my fears are laid aside,

If I but remember only

    Such as these have lived and died!

Copyright © 2000 Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.. All rights reserved.