Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Just a snippet from The Wreck of the Hesperus

And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept
Towards the reef of Norman's Woe.

Feel the chill..............

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

I love Longfellow
Good choice.

RE: RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Well, ladies can love him......but I can only admire him...

Quote:

Originally Posted by KtIrish

I love Longfellow
Good choice.

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Thats weird...I totally didn't put that smiley face there....
Anyhoozel, my fav is the Psalm of Life, can't beat a classic.

Last edited by KtIrish 06-09-2010 at 11:05:31 PM

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

I have to go check that one out, and then come back and try an
experiment. I wonder if OP is putting those smiley faces in......

Psalm of Life

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

On a scale from one to ten, this got a nine by the readers on poemhunter.
Not bad..............I love poems such as this...............

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

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.

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Jumping into the middle of this flowing stream, I just want to add my two cents' worth:
Longfellow is THE MAN!!!! America's first and still one of her brightest gems!

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

At least we three agree........................

Lines such as these from, A Summer Day By The Sea,
have had an influence on some of my poems…

From the dim headlands many a light-house gleams,
The street-lamps of the ocean; and behold,
O'erhead the banners of the night unfold;
The day hath passed into the land of dreams.

RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

I love this one so much that I can't just post a stanza.

A Day Of Sunshine

O gift of God! O perfect day:
Whereon shall no man work, but play;
Whereon it is enough for me,
Not to be doing, but to be!

Through every fibre of my brain,
Through every nerve, through every vein,
I feel the electric thrill, the touch
Of life, that seems almost too much.

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.

And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where though a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon,

Towards yonder cloud-land in the West,
Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,
Whose steep sierra far uplifts
Its craggy summits white with drifts.

Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms
The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms!
Blow, winds! and bend within my reach
The fiery blossoms of the peach!

O Life and Love! O happy throng
Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!
O heart of man! canst thou not be
Blithe as the air is, and as free?

RE: RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Kt,

A Day Of Sunshine

THANKS, Kt, for posting this poem of Longfellow.

This poem is also one of my favourites. I love these stanzas particularly as they speak so well to the summer days of August and September, in Jamaica,Land We Love:

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.

And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where though a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon,

]

Last edited by cousinsoren 06-13-2010 at 11:38:01 PM

RE: RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Kt,

THANKS.

This poem is also one ofmy favourites. I love this stanza particularly as it speaks so well to the summer days of August and September, in Jamaica,Land We Love:

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.

And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where though a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon,

]

RE: RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Quote:

Originally Posted by gogant

At least we three agree........................

Lines such as these from, A Summer Day By The Sea,
have had an influence on some of my poems…

From the dim headlands many a light-house gleams,
The street-lamps of the ocean; and behold,
O'erhead the banners of the night unfold;
The day hath passed into the land of dreams.

RE: RE: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...A poet's poet...

Quote:

Originally Posted by gogant

At least we three agree........................

Lines such as these from, A Summer Day By The Sea,
have had an influence on some of my poems…

From the dim headlands many a light-house gleams,
The street-lamps of the ocean; and behold,
O'erhead the banners of the night unfold;
The day hath passed into the land of dreams.