THE GLADNESS OF NATURE
b. hang-bird: the American oriole, which hangs its nest from a branch.
8. wilding: the wild bee which belongs to no hive.
To THE FRINGED GENTIAN
No description of this flower can give an adequate idea of its beauty.
The following account, from Reed's "Flower Guide, East of the Rockies,"
expresses the charm of the flower well: "Fringed Gentian because of its
exquisite beauty and comparative rarity is one of the most highly prized
of our wild flowers." "During September and October we may find these
blossoms fully expanded, delicate, vase-shaped creations with four
spreading deeply fringed lobes bearing no resemblance in shape or form to
any other American species. The color is a violet-blue, the color that
is most attractive to bumblebees, and it is to these insects that the
flower is indebted for the setting of its seed.... The flowers are wide
open only during sunshine, furling in their peculiar twisted manner on
cloudy days and at night. In moist woods from Maine to Minnesota and
southwards."
This guide gives a good colored picture of the flower as do Matthews'
"Field Guide to American Wildflowers" and many other flower books.
8. ground-bird: the vesper sparrow, so called because of its habit of
singing in the late evening. Its nest is made of grass and placed in a
depression on the ground.
11. portend: indicate by a sign that some event, usually evil, is about
to happen.
16. cerulean: deep, clear blue.
SONG of MARION'S MEN
4. Marion, Francis (1732-1795), in 1750 took command of the militia of
South Carolina and carried on a vigorous partisan warfare against the
English. Colonel Tarleton failed o find "the old swamp fox," as he named
him, because the swamp paths of South Carolina were well known to him.
See McCrady, "South Carolina in the Revolution," for full particulars of
his life.
21. deem: expect.
30. up: over, as in the current expression, "the time is up."
41. barb: a horse of the breed introduced by the Moors From Barbary into
Spain and noted for speed and endurance.
49. Santee: a river in South Carolina.
32. throes: agony.
44. Compare this final thought with the solution in "To a "Waterfowl."
THE CROWDED STREET
32. throes: agony
44. Compare this final thought with the solution in "To a Waterfowl."
THE SNOW-SHOWER
All the New England poets felt the charm of falling snow, and several
have written on the theme. In connection with this poem read Emerson's
"Snow-Storm" and Whittier's "The Frost Spirit." The best known of all is
Whittier's "Snow-Bound "; the first hundred and fifty lines may well be
read here.
9. living swarm: like a swarm of bees from the hidden chambers of the
hive.
12. prone: straight down.
17. snow-stars: what are the shapes of snowflakes
20. Milky way: the white path which seems to lead acre. The sky at
night and which is composed of millions of stars.
21. burlier: larger and stronger.
35. myriads: vast, indefinite number.
37. middle: as the cloud seems to be between us and the blue sky, so the
snowflakes before they fell occupied a middle position.
ROBERT of LINCOLN
"Robert of Lincoln" is the happiest, merriest poem written by Bryant. It
is characteristic of the man that it should deal with a nature topic. In
what ways does he secure the merriment?
Analyze each stanza as to structure. Does the punctuation help to
indicate the speaker?
Look up the Bobolink in the Bird Guide or some similar book. How much
actual information did Bryant have about the bird? Compare the amount of
bird-lore given here with that of Shelley's or Wordsworth's "To a
Skylark." Which is more poetic? Which interests you more?
THE POET
5. deem: consider. Compare with the use in the "Song of Marion's Men,"
1.21.
8. wreak: carry them out in your verse. The word usually has an angry
idea associated with it. The suggestion may be here of the frenzy of a
poet.
26. unaptly: not suitable to the occasion.
30. Only in a moment of great emotion (rapture) should the poet revise a
poem which was penned when his heart was on fire with the idea of the
poem.
38. limn: describe vividly.
54. By this test where would you place Bryant himself? Did he do what
he here advises? In what poems do you see evidences of such a method?
Compare your idea of him with Lowell's estimate in "A Fable for Critics,"
ll. 35-56.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
In connection with this poem the following stanza from "The Battle-Field"
seems very appropriate:
"Truth, crushed to Earth, shill rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies among his worshippers."
The American people certainly felt that Truth was Brushed to Earth with
Lincoln's death, but believed that it would triumph.
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1780-1843)
Born in Maryland, he graduated from St. John's College, Md., and
practiced law in Frederick City, Md. He was district attorney for the
District of Columbia during the War of 1812 and while imprisoned by the
British on board the ship Minden, Sept. 13, 1814, he witnessed the
British attack on Fort McHenry and wrote this national anthem.
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
30. Why is this mentioned as our motto?
JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE (1795-1820)
The "Culprit Fay" is so much better than American poetry had previously
been that one is at first disposed to speak of it enthusiastically. An
obvious comparison puts it in true perspective. Drake's life happened
nearly to coincide with that of Keats.... Amid the full fervor of
European experience Keats produced immortal work; Drake, whose whole life
was passed amid the national inexperience of New York, produced only
pretty fancies."
--BARRETT WENDELL.
Born in New York, he practiced medicine there. He died of tuberculosis
at the age of twenty-five, and left behind him manuscript verses which
were later published by his daughter. "The Culprit Fay," from which
selections are here given, is generally considered one of the best
productions of early American literature.
THE AMERICAN FLAG
6. milky baldric: the white band supposed by the ancients to circle the
earth and called the zodiac. He may here mean the Milky Way as part of
this band.
46. careering: rushing swiftly.
47. bellied: rounded, filled out by the gale.
56. welkin: sky.
THE CULPRIT FAY
25. ising-stars: particles of mica.
30. minim: smallest. What objection may be made to this word?
37. Ouphe: elf or goblin.
45. behest: command.
78. shandy: resembling a shell or a scale.
94. oozy: muddy.
107. colen-bell: coined by Drake, probably the columbine.
114. nightshade: a flower also called henbane or belladonna. dern:
drear.
119. thrids: threads, makes his way through.
160. prong: probably a prawn; used in this sense only in this one
passage.
165. quarl: jelly fish.
178. wake-line: showing by a line of foam the course over which he has
passed.
193. amain: at full speed.
210. banned: cursed as by a supernatural power.
216. henbane: see note on line 114.
223. fatal: destined to determine his fate.
245. sculler's notch: depression in which the oar rested.
255. wimpled: undulated.
257. athwart: across.
306. glossed: having gloss, or brightness.
329. This is only the first of the exploits of the Culprit Fay.
The second quest is described by the monarch as follows
"If the spray-bead gem be won,
The stain of thy wing is washed away,
But another errand must be done
Ere thy crime be lost for aye;
Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark,
Thou must re-illume its spark.
Mount thy steed and spur him high
To the heaven's blue canopy;
And when thou seest a shooting star,
Follow it fast, and follow it far
The last feint spark of its burning train
Shall light the elfin lamp again."
FITZ-GREENE HALLECK (1790-1867)
"The poems of Halleck are written with great care and finish, and
manifest the possession of a fine sense of harmony and of genial and
elevated sentiments."
--ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA.
Born in Guilford, Conn., he was the closest friend of Drake, at whose
death he wrote his best poem, which is given in this collection. "Marco
Bozzaris" aroused great enthusiasm, which has now waned in favor of his
simple lines, "On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake."
MARCO BOZZAARIS
Marco Bozzaris (c. 1790-1823) was a prominent leader in the struggle for
Greek liberty and won many victories from the Turks. During the night of
August 20, 1823, the Greeks won a complete victory which was saddened by
the loss of Bozzaris, who fell while leading his men to the final attack.
13. Suliote: a tribe of Turkish subjects of mixed Greek and Albanian
blood, who steadily opposed Turkish rule and won for themselves a
reputation for bravery. They fought for Grecian independence under Marco
Bozzaris.
16-22. These lines refer to the military history of Greece. See
Encyclopedia Britannica--article on Greece (Persian Wars subtitle) for
account of the Persian invasion and battle of Plataea.
79. What land did Columbus see first? Where did he from? Why then is
he called a Genoese?
107. pilgrim-circled: visited by pilgrims as are shrines.
JOHN HOWARD PAYNE (1791--1802)
Born in New York, he graduated from Union College and later went on the
stage. He was appointed U.S. Consul to Tunis, where he died. He is now
best remembered by "home Sweet Home" from one of his operas.
EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849)
"Small as the quantity of his true verse is, it more sustains his
peculiar genius in American eyes than does his prose; and this is because
it is so unique. He stands absolutely alone as a poet, with none like
him."
--GEORGE E. WOODBURY
Born in Boston, he spent most of his literary years in New York. His
parents, both actors, died when he was still a little child, and he was
adopted by Mr. Allan, who educated him in Europe. He served as literary
editor and hack writer for several journals and finally died in poverty.
TO HELEN
"To Helen" is said to have been written in 1823, when Poe was only
fourteen years old. It refers to Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of
one of his school friends, whose death was a terrible blow to the
sensitive lad. This loss was the cause of numerous poems of sorrow for
death and permanently influenced his work.
2. Nicean: Nicaea, the modern Iznik in Turkey, was anciently a Greek
province.
2. Nicean barks: the Greek ships that bore the wanderer, Ulysses, from
Phaeacia to his home. Read "The Wanderings of Ulysses" in Gayley's
Classic Myths, Chapter XXVII.
7. hyacinth: like Hyacinthus, the fabled favorite of Apollo; hence
lovely, beautiful.
8. Naiad: a nymph presiding over fountains, lakes, brooks, and wells.
14. Psyche, a beautiful maiden beloved of Cupid, whose adventure with
the lamp is told in all classical mythologies.
ISRAFEL
Israfel, according to the Koran, is the angel with the sweetest voice
among God's creatures. He will blow the trump on the day of
resurrection.
2. The idea that Israfel's lute was more than human is taken from
Moore's "Lalla Rookh," although these very words do not occur there. The
reference will be found in the last hundred lines of the poem.
12. levin: lightning.
26. Houri: one of the beautiful girls who, according to the Moslem
faith, are to be companions of the faithful in paradise.
LENORE
13. Peccavimus: we have sinned.
20. Avaunt: Begone! Away!
26. Paean: song of joy or triumph.
THE COLISEUM
10. Eld: antiquity.
14. See Matthew 26: 36-56.
16. The Chaldxans were the world's greatest astrologers.
26-29. Poe here uses technical architectural terms with success.
plinth: the block upon which a column or a statue rests.
shafts: the main part of a column between the base and the capital.
entablatures: the part of a building borne by the columns.
frieze: an ornamented horizontal band in the entablature.
cornices: the horizontal molded top of the entablatures.
32. corrosive: worn away by degrees; used figuratively of time.
36. At Thebes there is a statue which is supposed to be Memnon, the
mythical king of Ethiopia, and which at daybreak was said to emit the
music of the lyre.
EULALIE.--A SONG
19. Astarte: the Phoenician goddess of love.
THE RAVEN
41. Pallas: Greek goddess of wisdom.
46-47. Night's Plutonian shore: Pluto ruled over the powers of the lower
world and over the dead. Darkness and gloom are constantly associated
with him; the cypress tree was sacred to him and black victims were
sacrificed to him. Why does the coming of the raven suggest this realm
to the poet?
50. relevancy: appropriateness.
80. Seraphim: one of the highest orders of angels
82. respite and nepenthe: period of peace and forgetting.
89. balm in Gilead. See Jeremiah 8: 22; 46: 11 and Genesis 37: 25.
93. Aideen, fanciful spelling of Eden.
106. This line has been often criticized on the ground that a lamp could
not cause any shadow on the floor if the bird sat above the door. Poe
answered this charge by saying: "My conception was that of the bracket
candelabrum affixed against the wall, high up above the door and bust, as
is often seen in English palaces, and even in some of the better houses
of New York."
What effect does this poem have upon you? Work out the rhyme scheme in
the first and second stanzas. Are they alike? Does this rhyme scheme
help to produce the effect of the poem? Have you noticed a similar use
of "more" in any other poem? Point out striking examples of repetition,
of alliteration. Are there many figures of speech here?
TO HELEN
This Helen is Mrs. Whitman.
15. parterre: a flower garden whose beds are arranged in a pattern and
separated by walks.
48. Dian: Roman goddess representing the moon.
60. elysian: supremely happy.
65. scintillant: sending forth flashes of light.
66. Venuses: morning stars.
THE BELLS
"The Bells" originally consisted of eighteen lines, and was gradually
enlarged to its present form.
10. Runic: secret, mysterious.
11. Why does Poe use this peculiar word? Compare its use with that of
"euphony," 1. 26, "jangling," 1. 62, "moLotone" 1. 8'3.
26. euphony: the quality of having a pleasant sound.
72. monody: a musical composition in which some one voice-part
predominates.
88. Ghouls: imaginary evil beings of the East who rob graves.
ELDORADO
6. Eldorado: any region where wealth may be obtained is abundance;
hence, figuratively, the source of any abundance, as here.
21. "Valley of the Shadow" suggests death and is a fitting close to
Poe's poetic work.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)
"His verse blooms like a flower, night and day;
Bees cluster round his rhymes; and twitterings
Of lark and swallow, in an endless May,
Are mingling with the tender songs he sings.
Nor shall he cease to sing--in every lay
Of Nature's voice he sings--and will alway."
--JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
Born in Portland, Maine, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 and
went abroad to prepare himself to teach the modern languages. He taught
until 1854, when he became a professional author. During the remaining
years of his fife he lived quietly at Craigie House in Cambridge and
there he died.
The poems by Longfellow are used by permission of, and by special
arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his
works.
HYMN To THE NIGHT
"Night, thrice welcome."
"Night, undesired by Troy, but to the Greeks
Thrice welcome for its interposing gloom."
-COWPER, TRANS. OF ILIAD VIII, 488.
21. Orestes-like. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra,
avenged the death of his father by killing his mother. The Furies chased
him for many years through the world until at last he found pardon and
peace. The story is told in several Greek plays, but perhaps best in
AEschylus' "Libation Pourers" and "Furies"
A PSALM of LIFE
"I kept it," he said, "some time in manuscript, unwilling to show it to
any one, it being a voice from my inmost heart."
7. "Dust thou art": quoted from Genesis 3:19, "Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return."
10. Pope in Epistle IV of his "Essay on Man" says: "0 happiness! our
being's end and aim." How does Longfellow differ with him?
THE SKELETON IN ARMOR
The Skeleton in Armor. "The following Ballad was suggested to me while
riding on the seashore at Newport. A year or two previous a skeleton had
been dug up at Fall River, clad in broken and corroded armor; and the
idea occurred to me of connecting it with the Round Tower at Newport,
generally known hitherto as the Old Windmill, though now claimed by the
Danes as a work of their early ancestors."
19. Skald: a Scandinavian minstrel who composed and sang or recited
verses in celebration of famous deeds, heroes, and events.
"And there, in many a stormy vale,
The Scald had told his wondrous tale."
--SCOTT, Lay of the Last Minstrel, can. 6, St. 22.
20. Saga: myth or heroic story.
28. ger-falcon: large falcon, much used in northern Europe in falconry.
38. were-wolf: a person who had taken the form of a wolf and had become
a cannibal. The superstition was that those who had voluntarily become
wolves could become men again at will.
42. corsair: pirate. Originally "corsair" was applied to privateers off
the Barbary Coast who preyed upon Christian shipping under the authority
of their governments.
49. "wassail-bout": festivity at which healths are drunk.
53. Berserk. Berserker was a legendary Scandinavian hero who never wore
a shirt of mail. In general, a warrior who could assume the form and
ferocity of wild beasts, and whom fire and iron could not harm.
94. Sea-mew: a kind of European gull.
110. Skaw: a cape on the coast of Denmark.
159. Skoal!: Hail! a toast or friendly greeting used by the Norse
especially in poetry.
THE WRECK of THE HESPERUS
On Dec. 17, 1839, Longfellow wrote in his journal: "News of shipwrecks
horrible, on the coast. Forty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester, one
lashed to a piece of the wreck. There is a reef called Norman's Woe,
where many of these took place; among others the schooner Hesperus."
On Dec. 30 he added: "Sat till one o'clock by the fire, smoking, when
suddenly it came into my head to write the Ballad of the schooner
Hesperus, which I accordingly did. Then went o bed, but could not sleep.
New thoughts were running in my mind, and I got up to add them to the
ballad. It was three by the clock."... "I feel pleased with the ballad.
it hardly cost mean effort. It did not come into my mind by lines but by
stanzas."
In a letter to Mr. Charles Lanman on Nov. 24, 1871, Mr. Longfellow said:
"I had quite forgotten about its first publication; but I find a letter
from Park Benjamin, dated Jan. 7, 1840, beginning...as follows:--
"'Your ballad, The Wreck of the Hesperus, is grand. Enclosed are twenty-
five dollars (the sum you mentioned) for it, paid by the proprietors of
The New World, in which glorious paper it will resplendently coruscate on
Saturday next.'"
11. flaw: a sudden puff of wind.
14. Spanish Main: a term applied to that portion of the Caribbean Sea
near the northeast coast of South America, including the route followed
by Spanish merchant ships traveling between Europe and America.
37-48. This little dialogue reminds us of the "Erlkonig," a ballad by
Goethe.
66. See Luke 8: 22-25.
60. Norman's Woe: a reef in", W. Glouster harbor, Mass.
70. carded wool. The process of carding wool, cotton, flax, etc.
removes by a wire-toothed brush foreign matter and dirt, and leaves it
combed out and cleansed.
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
7. Crisp, and black, and long. Mr. Longfellow says that before this
poem was published, he read it to his barber. The man objected that
crisp black hair was never long, and as a result the author delayed
publication until be was convinced in his own mind that no other
adjectives would give a truer picture of the blacksmith as he saw him.
39-42. Mr. Longfellow's friends agree that these lines depict his own
industry and temperament better than any others can.
IT IS NOT ALWAYS MAY
No hay pajaros en los nidos de antano. Translated in lines 12 and 24.
8. freighted: heavily laden.
EXCELSIOR
Mr. Longfellow explained fully the allegory of this poem in a letter to
Mr. Henry T. Tuckerman. He said: "This (his intention) was no more than
to display, in a series of pictures, the life of a man of genius,
resisting all temptations, laying aside all fears, heedless of all
warnings, and pressing right on to accomplish his purpose. His motto is
Excelsior, 'higher.' He passes through the Alpine village,--through the
rough, cold paths of the world--where the peasants cannot understand him,
and where his watchword is 'an unknown tongue.' He disregards the
happiness of domestic peace, and sees the glaciers--his fate--before him.
He disregards the warnings of the old man's wisdom.... He answers to
all, 'Higher yet'! The monks of St. Bernard are the representatives of
religious forms and ceremonies, and with their oft-repeated prayer
mingles the sound of his voice, telling them there is something higher
than forms and ceremonies. Filled with these aspirations he perishes
without having reached the perfection he longed for; and the voice heard
in the air is the promise of immortality and progress ever upward."
Compare with this Tennyson's "Merlin and The Gleam," in which he tells
his own experience.
7. falchion: a sword with a broad and slightly curved blade, used in the
Middle Ages; hence, poetically, any type of sword.
THE DAY IS DOUR
26. In this stanza and the two following Longfellow describes what his
poems have come to mean to us and the place they hold in American life.
Compare with Whittier's "Dedication" to "Songs of Labor," Il. 26-36.
WALTER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
Walter von der Vogelweide: the most celebrated of medieval German lyric
poets, who lived about the year 1200. He belonged to the lower order of
"nobility of service." He livedin Tyrol, then the home of famous
minnesingers from whom he learned his art.
4. Walter von der Vogelweide is buried in the cloisters adjoining the
Neumunster church in Wurtzburg, which dates from the eleventh century.
10. The debt of the poet to the birds has been dwelt upon in many poems,
the best known of which are Shelley's "Skylark" and Wordsworth's "To the
Cuckoo."
27. War of Wartburg. In 1207 there occurred in this German castle, the
Wartburg, a contest of the minstrels of the time. Wagner has
immortalized this contest in "Tannhauser," in which he describes the
victory of Walter von der Vogelweide over all the other singers.
42. Gothic spire. See note on "The Builders" 11. 17-19.
THE BUILDERS
17-19. The perfection of detail in the structure and sculpture of Gothic
cathedrals may be seen in the cathedrals of Chartres and Amiens.
Numerous beautiful illustrations may be found in Marriage, "The
Sculptures of Chartres Cathedral," and in Ruskin, "The Bible of Amiens."
SANTA FILOMENA
Santa Filomena stands for Miss Florence Nightingale, who did remarkable
work among the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War (1854-56). This poem
was published in 1857 while the story of her aid was fresh in the minds
of the world.
42. The palm, the lily, and the spear: St. Filomena is represented in
many Catholic churches and usually with these three emblems to signify
her victory, purity, and martyrdom. Sometimes an anchor replaces the
palm.
THE DISCOVERER OF THE NORTH CAPE
King Alfred's Orosius. Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century A.D.,
wrote at the request of the church a history of the world down to 414
A.D. King Alfred (849-901) translated this work and added at least one
important story, that of the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan. The part
of the story used by Longfellow may be found in Cook and Tinkers's
Translations from Old English Prose, in Bosworth's, and in Sweet's
editions.
2. Helgoland: an island in the North Sea, belonging to Prussia.
42. Hebrides: islands west of Scotland.
90. a nameless sea. They sailed along the coast of Lapland and into the
White Sea.
96-100. Alfred reports simply, "He says he was one of a party of six who
killed sixty of these in two days."
116. The original says: "He made this voyage, in addition to his purpose
of seeing the country, chiefly for walruses, for they have very good bone
in their teeth--they brought some of these teeth to the king--and their
hides are very good for ship-ropes."
SANDALPHON