Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Where the saying "wreck of the Hesperus" comes from
Many people, young and old, have used the phrase "It(or you)look like the wreck of the Hesperus" and after hearing it from so many people(who would say that but not know what the Hesperus was), I spent time on the web trying to find out. Learning it was a poem by Longfellow, my library had a copy and I read it. It is a sad tale of a shipwreck, written with such vivid detail that leaves you in awe of the work. I would suggest to the reader, if you, too, always wondered about this old saying, you find the book which contains the poem,and see for yourself how gripping a tale it is. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Too short.
The poetry and novella here are very enjoyable to read.It is smooth, well-written, melodious poetry, and one realizes why Longfellow was so loved in his own day.Longfellow, with others, such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, is one of the great American poets.Unfortunately, Library of America chose to only publish a selection of his work.As before noted by another reviewer, "Tales of a Wayside Inn" is only partial, though the "Song of Hiawatha" is here complete (thankfully). This seems inexcusable, since Library of America found time and space for all of Poe, Whitman, Frost, and Stevens, not to mention minor poets like Emerson and Thoreau.Longfellow, as one of the major American poets, deserves better.So 5 stars for his poetry, but 3 stars for this edition of LoA.

Longfellow
A refresher course of my favorite poems all in one volume.I even discovered one of my favorite Christmas songs was actually a poem by Longfellow.I keep it on my coffee table

McClatchy does it again
This time he presents an edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's books that's every bit as timely and interesting as his own very 20th century poems.

McClatchy's own writing in every field is widely acclaimed, and in a way he is the Longfellow we deserve, with both poems of spiritual affirmation and the poetry of doubt, jostling side by side, uneasy in harness.Longfellow's book Tales of a Wayside Inn is given a dramatic reading here, for McClatchy selects not only the best of the Tales but also tries to find room for the body and the heart in all its different avatars. His excerpts from Michael Angelo are, as well, in tune with what we now know and feel about Michelangelo in the present time of the early 21st century, that he was as great a poet as he was a painter and sculptor, and probably a gay man to boot.Poems like Longfellow's HIAWATHA and EVANGELINE are sensitively edited to bring forward their multicultural and ecological interests.All in all, Longfellow may be the most forwardlooking of all the poets of 19th century USA, and that's a strong statement considering we are putting him ahead of (among others) Emerson, Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Very, and Melville.

One of the great American poets
Longfellow's conventional morality and straightforward manner of expression have long caused his work to be unfairly ignored by serious readers.But those who are willing to give him a try will be rewarded by masterful storytelling, resourceful treatment of American themes, a truly sympathetic imagination, and (perhaps most importantly for poetry lovers) constant metrical experimentation.Unlike, say, Tennyson, who arguably had a better ear, Longfellow was never really satisfied with blank verse and instead played with unusual (for the time) metrical forms.Many people today forget that Longfellow was a highly educated man -- a professor of comparative literature at Harvard and a speaker of numerous languages -- whose broad reading led him to unusual forms and themes.

For those who think of Longfellow as just a schlockmeister, I recommend starting with "The Cross of Snow" (his very private meditation on his second wife's violent death) and "The Slave's Dream."For those interested in great stories in verse, try the selections here from "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (yes, it's a darn shame that more was not included) and "Evangeline."For those interested in Americana, try "The Building of the Ship" and "The New England Tragedies" (the latter being verse dramas on religious persecution and the witchcraft hysteria in Massachusetts).And for those interested in formal experimentation, try "My Lost Youth" and "The Saga of King Olaf."

Like all Library of America editions, this is a beautifully printed book, with helpful notes and a chronology of the author's life.I just wish they had included more!

Not Just Gitchee Gumee
J.D. McClatchy here presents a thoughtful selection of Longfellow's verse.Although ignored by contemporary readers and dismissed by the academy, Longfellow is a wrtier who, though never profound, is sincere, engaging, accessible, and humble--qualities rarely associated with modern poetry.It is difficult to read such saccarhine classics as "The Children's Hour" and "A Psalm of Life" without either shrivelling from the sweetness or retreating into a shallow camp perspective, but for the reader willing to make the effort, Longfellow offers the deep rewards of meter, rhyme, and narrative--and the rare pleasure of lines that do not dazzle or daunt by ambiguity.As the poet writes, "Such songs have power to quiet / The restless pulse of care, / And come like the benediction / That follows after prayer."

One's only regret with this volume (a criticism one might make, I suppose, of any selection) is that McClatchy did not include more--specifically, the complete "Tales of a Wayside Inn," which, though represented rather amply, surely should have been included in its entirety as the happiest vehicle for Longfellow's story-based strengths."The Bell of Atri," one of the most charming of the tales, should certainly be here.Then, too, the editor seems rather determined in his selection to present a more somber presentation of the poet than is warrented by his full corpus.(Perhaps he aims to make Longfellow more attractive to an audience accustomed to the confessional and the dour.)Oh, well.In compensation we do get useful notes, an excellent chronology, and the delightful novella "Kavanagh"--all of which make this surely the most pleasant poetry revival of the past several years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

...Appreciate his deeper insight, his profounder soul...
[This review applies to _The Works of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow_ published by The Wordsworth Poetry Library.]
* * * * * * * * *
Poor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- not only do many
people get his name and the name of William Wordsworth
mixed up, but he seems "doomed" in "modern" times to
be labeled, filed, and forgotten as a "sentimental,
sing-song poet."What an injustice!This man was
considered to be the premier poet of his day, and while
it is true that fashions in taste change, it is not
true that deeper insight, once gained, is meant to be
brushed aside.Few people ever achieve deeper insight,
so we should listen sometimes to those who do.
There are many poems in this complete collection
which even modern academics may not be aware of.I was
surprised to learn that a modern academic admitted that
he had no idea of where the idea of "poetic inspiration"
came from [ancient Greece] though he could have probably
spouted quotes from Marx or Derrida line for line.We
have lost contact with the knowledge and culture, not
only of America's past, but of the world's cultural past.
Too much attention has been lost on Longfellow in
"immortalizing" him for the memorized poems.More
attention needs to be paid to him, especially in
these modern times, for his deeper insights, his
offering up of the Orphic, Pythagorean, and hermetic
traditions as well. As one modern critic has said of
him: "If Longfellow's achievements have been minimized
in our century, that is partly because students of
American literature have been less interested in the
conservative aesthetics of restraint than in the
comparatively radical-experimental aesthetics of
visionary romanticism." -- Lawrence Buell; "Introduction"
to _Selected Poems_ (Penguin Classics).Yet, moderns
are cutting themselves off from an even loftier
visionary past...one that extends back to ancient
times and has richly influenced the thought and

writings of many of the world's more profound
thinkers and poets.Longfellow was also a translator
of the work of other poets -- but we should understand
that we can tell something about a poet and his
thinking...and his being shaped by experience...in
his selection of the poems that he wishes to take the
time and effort to translate.
Thus, we should look carefully -- and listen
carefully - to Longfellow when he chooses to translate
"Coplas De Manrique" (from the Spanish).It is not
just everyone who would translate, or understand,
something like this: "But O, how false and full of guile/
That world, which wore so soft a smile/But to betray!/
She, that had been his friend before,/Now from the
fated monarch tore/Her charms away."
And the explanatory note which was printed with
the poem helps us to see why Longfellow chose it:
"In the language of his historian, 'Don Jorge Manrique,
in [this] elegant Ode, full of poetic beauties, rich
embellishments of genius, and high moral reflections,
mourned the death of his father as with a funeral hymn.
This praise is not exaggerated.The poem is a model
of its kind.Its conception is solemn and beautiful;
and, in accordance with it, the style moves on, --
calm, dignified, and majestic." (p. 27)
The poems I would suggest need fresh attention and
modern reading are: Coplas De Manrique; Endymion;
The Goblet of Life; Mezzo Cammin; The Occultation of
Orion; Gaspar Becerra; Suspiria; Prometheus; Enceladus;
Fata Morgana; The Haunted Chamber; Charles Sumner
[the thoughts expressed]; The Herons of Elmwood; Haroun
Al Raschid; Palingenesis; Hawthorne (May 23, 1864);
Three Friends of Mine (5 sonnets); The Descent of
the Muses; Keramos; Rondel (translation from Froissart);
Ovid In Exile (Tristia, Book III, Elegy X); from
the Seven Sonnets from Michael Angelo (To Vittoria
Colonna; Dante; Canzone); Jugurtha; Night; Hermes
Trismegistus; Possibilities; Dedication (before

the poem Michael Angelo).
There is much of wonder, solemnity, and grandeur
in Longfellow. As Albert Glover says in the
Introduction to this volume: "...Longfellow's work
remains noble in its dedication to ideals which
defy mere fashion.His voice is learned, tolerant,
compassionate, and courageous." (--Albert Glover,
"Introduction.")
Here are a few lines from "Endymion":
Like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;
Nor voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.

It comes, -- the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity, --
In silence and alone
To seek the elected one.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
* * * * * * * * * ... Read more

Book Description
Best remembered today as the author of The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow continues to be one of the most popular poets in American literary history. This book is a guide to his life and writings. A brief introductory essay overviews Longfellow's life and accomplishments. A chronology then summarizes the chief events in his career. Hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries follow, discussing individual poems, his other writings, his family members and professional associates, and topics related to his life and literary achievements. Entries list works for further reading, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography. Longfellow has also enjoyed fame worldwide; in England, his poems outsold those of Browning and Tennyson. In addition to being a gifted poet, Longfellow had a brilliant career as a college professor. He wrote numerous critical works and translations, and was also a leading American Dante scholar. He frequently wrote letters, and his admirers often sought his advice on personal and professional matters. ... Read more