The Children's Own Longfellow
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an American poet. Born in Portland, Maine, Longfellow excelled in reading and writing from a young age, becoming fluent in Latin as an adolescent and publishing his first poem at the age of thirteen. In 1822, Longfellow enrolled at Bowdoin College, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne and published poems and stories in local magazines and newspapers. Graduating in 1825, Longfellow was offered a position at Bowdoin as a professor of modern languages before embarking on a journey throughout Europe. He returned home in 1829 to begin teaching and working as the college’s librarian. During this time, he began working as a translator of French, Italian, and Spanish textbooks, eventually publishing a translation of Jorge Manrique, a major Castilian poet of the fifteenth century. In 1836, after a period abroad and the death of his wife Mary, Longfellow accepted a professorship at Harvard, where he taught modern languages while writing the poems that would become Voices of the Night (1839), his debut collection. That same year, Longfellow published Hyperion: A Romance, a novel based partly on his travels and the loss of his wife. In 1843, following a prolonged courtship, Longfellow married Fanny Appleton, with whom he would have six children. That decade proved fortuitous for Longfellow’s life and career, which blossomed with the publication of Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847), an epic poem that earned him a reputation as one of America’s leading writers and allowed him to develop the style that would flourish in The Song of Hiawatha (1855). But tragedy would find him once more. In 1861, an accident led to the death of Fanny and plunged Longfellow into a terrible depression. Although unable to write original poetry for several years after her passing, he began work on the first American translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy and increased his public support of abolitionism. Both steeped in tradition and immensely popular, Longfellow’s poetry continues to be read and revered around the world.
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Reviews for The Children's Own Longfellow
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a thoughtful idea this book must have been. I don't know whether children in 1908 truly wanted to read most poetry, but I can remember loving "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" (and still do), and this book has many charmers. Here's the Publisher's Note:Longfellow has been fitly called the children's poet. Many of his poems have from their very first appearance been favorites with youthful readers, and for many thousands of children he is the poet best beloved. It has been, therefore, the hope of the publishers that this volume, containing eight of the most popular of these poems, illustrated in color by some of the best known American artists of the present day, will find a ready welcome at the hands of young folks and their parents.Contents:The Wreck of the HesperusThe Village BlacksmithEvangeline Part the FirstThe Song of Hiawatha Hiawatha's Sailing Hiawatha's FishingThe Building of the ShipThe Castle-BuilderPaul Revere's RideThe Building of the Long SerpentEvangeline is only there in a small slice (it's normally book length), and Hiawatha is just two pieces as well. I'm not familiar with a couple of these, but will be glad to make their acquaintance this evening.
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The Children's Own Longfellow - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Project Gutenberg's The Children's Own Longfellow, by Henry W. Longfellow #9 in our series by Henry W. Longfellow
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Title: The Children's Own Longfellow
Author: Henry W. Longfellow
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9080] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 3, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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THE CHILDREN'S OWN LONGFELLOW
Illustrated
1908
Publishers' Note
Longfellow has been fitly called the children's poet. Many of his poems have from their very first appearance been favorites with youthful readers, and for many thousands of children he is the poet best beloved. It has been, therefore, the hope of the publishers that this volume, containing eight of the most popular of these poems, illustrated in color by some of the best known American artists of the present day, will find a ready welcome at the hands of young folks and their parents.
CONTENTS
THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
EVANGELINE
Part the First
THE SONG OF HIAWATHA:
Hiawatha's Sailing
Hiawatha's Fishing
THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP
THE CASTLE-BUILDER
PAUL REVERE'S RIDE
THE BUILDING OF THE LONG SERPENT
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS S.M. Arthurs
He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat
Against the stinging blast
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH Howard Smith
And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door
EVANGELINE
Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her.
When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music
HIAWATHA'S FISHING
And he dropped his line of cedar
Through the clear, transparent water
THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP C. W. Ashley
The sun shone on her golden hair,
And her cheek was glowing fresh and fair
THE CASTLE-BUILDER Olive Rush
A castle-builder, with his wooden blocks,
And towers that touch imaginary skies
PAUL REVERE'S RIDE Howard Smith
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door
THE BUILDING OF THE LONG SERPENT
"Men shall hear of Thorberg Skafting
For a hundred year!"
[Illustration: THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS S.M. Arthurs
He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat
Against the stinging blast ]
THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS
It was the schooner Hesperus,
That sailed the wintry sea;
And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
To bear him company.
Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax,
Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds,
That ope in the month of May.
The skipper he stood beside the helm,
His pipe was in his mouth,
And he watched how the veering flaw did blow
The smoke now West, now South.
Then up and spake an old Sailor,
Had sailed to the Spanish Main,
"I pray thee, put into yonder port,
For I fear a hurricane.
"Last night, the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!"
The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.
Colder and louder blew the wind,
A gale from the Northeast,
The snow fell hissing in the brine,
And the billows frothed like yeast.
Down came the storm, and smote amain
The vessel in its strength;
She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,
Then leaped her cable's length.
"Come hither! come hither! my little daughter,
And do not tremble so;
For I can weather the roughest gale
That ever wind did blow."
He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat
Against the stinging blast;
He cut a rope from a broken spar,
And bound her to the mast.
"O father! I hear the church-bells ring,
Oh say, what may it be?"
'T is a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!
—
And he steered for the open sea.
"O father! I hear the sound of guns,
Oh say, what may it be?"
"Some ship in distress, that cannot live
In such an angry sea!"
"O father! I see a gleaming light,
Oh say, what may it be?"
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.
Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,
With his face turned to the skies,
The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow
On his fixed and glassy eyes.
Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed
That saved she might be;
And she thought