Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a renowned poet and educator of the 19th century. He achieved the highest level of literary success both in the United States and internationally. Longfellow, a Harvard professor, was the son of a Harvard graduate and attorney and the grandson on his maternal side of General Peleg Wadsworth (American Revolution). The most famous of his works are:
The Landlord's Tale – Paul Revere
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…
Interestingly, Edgar Allan Poe was a big critic of his work in what became known as the “Little Longfellow War” in 1845. I'll post a copy of an article detailing it from the Poe Museum soon.
I started this post because I found this Longfellow poem and really liked it. Hope you enjoy reading it.
Each heart has its haunted chamber,
Where the silent moonlight falls!
On the floor are mysterious footsteps,
There are whispers along the walls!
And mine at times is haunted
By phantoms of the Past
As motionless as shadows
By the silent moonlight cast.
A form sits by the window,
That is not seen by day,
For as soon as the dawn approaches
It vanishes away.
It sits there in the moonlight
Itself as pale and still,
And points with its airy finger
Across the window-sill.
Without before the window,
There stands a gloomy pine,
Whose boughs wave upward and downward
As wave these thoughts of mine.
And underneath its branches
Is the grave of a little child,
Who died upon life's threshold,
And never wept nor smiled.
What are ye, O pallid phantoms!
That haunt my troubled brain?
That vanish when day approaches,
And at night return again?
What are ye, O pallid phantoms!
But the statues without breath,
That stand on the bridge overarching
The silent river of death?
Photo credit/image not mine. Found on web.
