Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2. About the Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine His mother’s name was Zilpah He was very fond of reading Became a published poet at age 13 Entered Bowdoin College in Maine, at age 15, where he decided to devote his life to writing His first wife died following a miscarriage His second wife died from being fatally burned in a fire

3. Longfellow died in Cambridge on March 24, 1882. In London his marble image is seen in Westminster Abbey, in the Poet's Corner.

4. Random Facts • was a child prodigy (one who shows impressive talent at a young age) • spoke 11 languages • read 18 languages • grew a beard to hide the scars of a fire that killed his second wife

5. HWL’s Poems Longfellow’s poems were very well liked and popular with people because of the lessons that were included in them. Audiences wanted some kind of sermon or lesson to help shape their character and morals during the time of the Industrial Revolution where their values were being tested, and that is what his poems did.

6. Poetic Devices • Stanza- a grouping of lines • Rhyme scheme- the pattern of end rhyme in a stanza or an entire poem • Refrain- part of a stanza, consisting of one or more lines that are repeated regularly, sometimes with changes, often at the end of stanzas • Meter- a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry • Spondee- a foot, two stressed syllables • Scanning- marking the stressed and unstressed syllables with the proper markings

7. Literary Devices • Onomatopoeia is a poetic technique in which the sounds of words are used to echo their sense. Can you name a few? • Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

8. “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” *This poem is a representation of how life keeps going. Even after the lonely traveler dies, no one notices his death and the days keep going just as they did before he dies. The tide rises and falls, the morning comes and goes and so does the night, people go out of the earth and people come in everyday. The tide rises, the tide falls,The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brownThe traveler hastens toward the town,And the tide rises, the tide falls. Darkness settles on roofs and walls,But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;The little waves, with their soft, white handsEfface the footprints in the sands,And the tide rises, the tide falls. The morning breaks; the steeds in their stallsStamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; The day returns, but nevermoreReturns the traveler to the shore.And the tide rises, the tide falls.

9. “The Cross Of Snow” *This is one of the most personal poems that Longfellow ever wrote. It is about his second wife Frances, who died from a terrible accident with fire. “Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led” She died in their home when a lighted match or some hot sealing wax she was using on a letter caught her dress on fire, Henry tried to extinguish her with a rug but she passed away and he was left very badly burned. So this poem could maybe be a eulogy for the tragic loss of his wife. In the long, sleepless watches of the night A gentle face--the face of one long dead-- Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died.