HW Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

An Introduction

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator .

the second son in a family of eight children. His mother, Zilpah Wadsworth, was the daughter of a Revolutionary War hero. His father, Stephen Longfellow, was a prominent Portland lawyer and later a member of Congress.

After graduating from Bowdoin College, Longfellow studied modern languages in Europe for three years, then returned to Bowdoin to teach them. 

In 1831 he married Mary Storer Potter of Portland, a former classmate, and soon published his first book, a description of his travels called Outre Mer ("Overseas"). But in November 1835, during a second trip to Europe, Longfellow's life was shaken when his wife died during a miscarriage.The young teacher spent a grief-stricken year in Germany and Switzerland.

Longfellow took a position at Harvard in 1836. Three years later, at the age of 32, he published his first collection of poems,Voices of the Night, followed in 1841 by Ballads and Other Poems. Both books were very popular, but Longfellow's growing duties as a professor left him little time to write more. In addition, Frances Appleton, a young woman from Boston, had refused his proposal of marriage.

Frances finally accepted his proposal the following spring, ushering in the happiest 18 years of Longfellow's life. The couple had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood, and the marriage gave him new confidence. In 1847, he published Evangeline, a book-length poem about what would now be called "ethnic cleansing." The poem takes place as the British drive the French from Nova Scotia, and two lovers are parted, only to find each other years later when the man is about to die.

In 1854, Longfellow decided to quit teaching to devote all his time to poetry. He published Hiawatha, a long poem about Native American life, and The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems. Both books were immensely successful

A few months after the war began in 1861, Frances Longfellow was sealing an envelope with wax when her dress caught fire. Despite her husband's desperate attempts to save her, she died the next day. Profoundly saddened, Longfellow published nothing for the next two years. He found comfort in his family and in reading Dante's Divine Comedy.

In March 1882, Longfellow went to bed with severe stomach pain. He endured the pain for several days with the help of opium before he died surrounded by family on Friday, March 24, 1882. He had been suffering from peritonitis.

Some of his works :-

Aftermath (1873)
Ballads and Other Poems (1841)
Christus: A Mystery (1872)
Evangeline (1847)
Flower-de-Luce (1867)
Household Poems (1863)
Keramos and Other Poems (1878)
Poems on Slavery (1842)

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.

manuscript

An incomplete manuscript by Longfellow titled 'The Village Blacksmith'

A Shadow

A Shadow

I said unto myself, if I were dead,
What would befall these children? What would be
Their fate, who now are looking up to me
For help and furtherance? Their lives, I said,
Would be a volume wherein I have read
But the first chapters, and no longer see
To read the rest of their dear history,
So full of beauty and so full of dread.
Be comforted; the world is very old,
And generations pass, as they have passed,
A troop of shadows moving with the sun;
Thousands of times has the old tale been told;
The world belongs to those who come the last,
They will find hope and strength as we have done. 

REVIEW

Acording to my interpretation and a few readings of the poem talks about two different generations ,one generation being the earlier ones ,the more experienced individuals who fear ,who are afraid that if they die what wil happen to the future .They fear the outcome of the newer generations and are afraid that there will be no one to teach them the ways of life.The older generation believes that the children are looking up to them for guidance and furtherance and they will not be able to provide the youth any support if they die. A beautiful line reads;

Their lives, I said,
Would be a volume wherein I have read
But the first chapters, and no longer see
To read the rest of their dear history,

It says that only a few chapters of the youngs life are covered but much more is there to teach and needs to be taught. Different generations pass along like shadows and its their duty to teach the next the ways of life. The poem ends on the note that this has been happeneing since centuries and the world belongs to the future ,it is theirs to uphold and like the previous gnerations before them they will find strenghth and hope to live and improve their and their childrens lives.

Aftermath

Aftermath

When the summer fields are mown, 
When the birds are fledged and flown, 
And the dry leaves strew the path; 
With the falling of the snow, 
With the cawing of the crow, 
Once again the fields we mow 
And gather in the aftermath. 
Not the sweet, new grass with flowers 
Is this harvesting of ours; 
Not the upland clover bloom; 
But the rowen mixed with weeds, 
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads, 
Where the poppy drops its seeds 
In the silence and the gloom.

REVIEW

Aftermath was quite a beautifully written poem which after a few readings according to me talks about all the seasons through the entire piece. Each line speaks of a season and although a short piece speaks of an entire year .For example, he describes the mowing of fields and birds traveling at the end of spring and summer . Then, he mentions the falling, golden leaves and snow for the following seasons .After giving brief details of each season, Longfellow claims that it’s time for an aftermath. Now that spring is back again, the year deserves a review and a plan for moving forward. He says, “Once again the fields we mow and gather in the aftermath”. As done by romantic writers nature and its beauty form an integral part of their poetry .The outdoors proved to be a huge inspiration for writers at this time, so they discussed it very often in their work. “Aftermath” also follows the journey of the changing seasons.A story of travel and change is also popular in the Romanticism period. Longfellow makes use of alliteration and personification as seen in the line “Tangled tufts from marsh and meads” (Longfellow). Personification was given to the poppy, a flower, when it “drops its seeds”. Flowers don’t have hands, so they can’t literally drop something. Instead, Longfellow is giving the flower human like traits. A typical poem of a typical era written extremely well using only a few words to describe a plethora of emotions.

A Nameless Grave

A Nameless Grave

'A soldier of the Union mustered out,'
Is the inscription on an unknown grave
At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave,
Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout
Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout
Of battle, when the loud artillery drave
Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave
And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.
Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea
In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame
I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,
When I remember thou hast given for me
All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name,
And I can give thee nothing in return. 

REVIEW

As clearly seen this poetry focuses a lot on diction.The words used in the poem are prim ,precise and very honest and help bring out the meaing of the poetry very well .According to me this is one of longfellows best poems because in a few lines he is able to convey an exemplary message.

The first few lines of the poem read:

A soldier of the Union mustered out,

Is the inscription on an unknown grave

At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave,

This was the ideal way to begin the poem. It introduces the subject and orients the reader. This phrase “Mustered out” usually means a soldier has been discharged. Using this inscription on the grave shows what little is actually known about the soldier. Longfellow also sets the scene by adding a description of the gravesite. Newport News is a place in Virginia that is located near the ocean. Using an actual location makes the poem more real.

In the next part longfellow lists out possibilities as to how the soldiers life may have ended.

Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout

Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout

Of battle, when the loud artillery drave

Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave

And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.

Longfellow used examples of battle action like “skirmish” and “disastrous rout.” Again the reader sees the unique language Longfellow was known for. The next few lines are very graphic, but realistic. “Iron wedges through the ranks of the brave” has an impact on the reader. This describes the brutality that took place during war.This shows longfellows speciality ,in just a few lines he is able to stir up mixed feelings in the reader which shows us his prowess as a poet. Excellent use of words which bring out the flow in the poem not only making it sound blissful but also has a deep meaning to it.

 In the next lines, Longfellow focuses more on this individual who was lost.

Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea

In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame

I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,

When I remember thou hast given for me

To say this man is sleeping brings an unexpected sense of peace to the poem. Although his death was tragic, his is at peace now lying by the ocean. The tone changes in the next line as Longfellow expresses sympathy and guilt. Many soldiers do experience shame for their actions in war and this soldier was buried with those feelings. Longfellow also gets a little bit personal as he talks about how a citizen might feel looking at the grave. Using phrases like “pulses beat” is more effective that saying he feels sad, angry, sympathetic or guilty. The poem ends on a sad note as Longfellow wrote,

All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name

And I can give thee nothing in return.

This soldier gave his life, his most valuable possession, to his country. Now he is forgotten and never received the glory or honor he deserved. There is nothing that can be done because this soldier has no name or identity. This was a great way to end because it encompassed the entire meaning of the poem.

Bibliography

http://www.online-literature.com

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://www.poemhunter.com

http://www.poets.org

http://www.helium.com

http://melissa-pphs2011.blogspot.in

http://allpoetry.com

http://www.shadowpoetry.com

http://www.poetryfoundation.org

wiki.answers.com

www.google.com

bschools.net