Video from Dry Creek Wrangler School
Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall - Dry Creek Wrangler School
10 Greatest Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Picking just 10 is a tricky equation when it concerns the works of a poet as prolific as Longfellow. From being a cornerstone of American poetry and culture to being the most widely read poet in his lifetime, he dared to establish this very fact that Romanticism wasn’t confined to Europe (or British poets to be precise). With numerous translations from various languages, such as Spanish, German, and Italian, his popularity was perhaps something that any poet could only dream of.
It is an uphill task to compile his best ten, since many of his celebrated pieces like Paul Revere’s Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline – A Tale of Acadie, The Wreck of the Hesperus, The Building of the Ship and My Lost Youth are long. For simplicity and convenience, I have stuck to his English poems that run not more than 60 lines. (Read an excellent essay on The Wreck of the Hesperus here)
Here goes the list:
10. “Haunted Houses” (1858)
All houses wherein men have lived and died__Are haunted houses. Through the open doorsThe harmless phantoms on their errands glide,__With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
We meet them at the doorway, on the stair,__Along the passages they come and go,Impalpable impressions on the air,__A sense of something moving to and fro.
There are more guests at table, than the hosts__Invited; the illuminated hallIs thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,__As silent as the pictures on the wall.
The stranger at my fireside cannot see__The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;He but perceives what is; while unto me__All that has been is visible and clear.
We have no title-deeds to house or lands;__Owners and occupants of earlier datesFrom graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,__And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
The spirit-world around this world of sense__Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhereWafts through these earthly mists and vapors dense__A vital breath of more ethereal air.
Our little lives are kept in equipoise__By opposite attractions and desires;The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,__And the more noble instinct that aspires.
These perturbations, this perpetual jar__Of earthly wants and aspirations high,Come from the influence of an unseen star,__An undiscovered planet in our sky.
And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud__Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd__Into the realm of mystery and night,–
So from the world of spirits there descends__A bridge of light, connecting it with this,O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,__Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss..." from the article: 10 Greatest Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
For further reading: poetryfoundation.org
Comments