Writing style

STYLE

Longfellow experimented with many forms, including hexameter and free verse. His published poetry shows great versatility.Much of his work is recognized for its melody-like musicality. As he says, "what a writer asks of his reader is not so much to like as to listen".

As a very private man, Longfellow did not often add autobiographical elements to his poetry. Two notable exceptions are dedicated to the death of members of his family. "Resignation", written as a response to the death of his daughter Fanny in 1848, does not use first-person pronouns and is instead a generalized poem of mourning. The death of his second wife Frances, as biographer Charles Calhoun wrote, deeply affected Longfellow personally but "seemed not to touch his poetry, at least directly". His memorial poem to her, a sonnet called "The Cross of Snow".

 Much of his poetry imparts cultural and moral values, particularly focused on promoting life as being more than material pursuits.Despite his often-sentimental tone, Longfellow remains popular for his evocation of a vanishing America, its landscapes and occupations, and his simple affection for humanity.

Characterized by the power of nature, beauty, and imagination, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poems are essentially Romantic. “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” contains a multitude of qualities that are considered to be aspects of romantic poetry. Longfellow was able to experience the splendor of nature and incorporate it into his works. He devoted himself to teaching and poetry, often having a religious zeal and love for foreign languages and cultures that were often apparent within his verse. “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” was written to evoke feelings over reason while providing the reader with a visual journey in a natural setting.
A method that romantic writers use to reveal certainties about the world is to avoid writing about industrial cities where the future and new inventions take place. His style of romantic writing laid down a colossal foundation for similar genres to come forth in the future.