American poet (1807-1882)
I know not how it is, but during a voyage I collect books as a ship does barnacles.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Charles Sumner, September 17, 1842
It is the heart and not the brain,
That to the highest doth attain.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Building of the Ship"
And the hooded clouds, like friars,
Tell their beads in drops of rain.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Midnight Mass for the Dying Year
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"A Psalm of Life"
Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme,
Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;
Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime,
For oh, it is not always May!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"It Is Not Always May"
A stiff letter galls one like a stiff shirt collar -- whilst a sheet garnished here and there with a careless blot -- and here and there a dash -- but in the main full of excellent matter, is like a clever fellow in a dirty shirt whom we value for the good humour he brings with him and not for the garb he wears.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Patrick Greenleaf, October 23, 1826
All your strength is in your union.
All your danger is in discord;
Therefore be at peace henceforward,
And as brothers live together.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Song of Hiawatha"
Not chance of birth or place has made us friends,
Being oftentimes of different tongues and nations,
But the endeavor for the selfsame ends,
With the same hopes, and fears, and aspirations.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
dedication, The Seaside and the Fireside
Every man is in some sort a failure to himself. No one ever reaches the heights to which he aspires.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Youth, hope, and love:
To build a new life on a ruined life,
To make the future fairer than the past,
And make the past appear a troubled dream.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
The Masque of Pandora
Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
To-morrow be to-day.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Keramos
Southward with fleet of ice
Sailed the corsair Death;
Wild and fast blew the blast,
And the east-wind was his breath.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Sir Humphrey Gilbert"
Labor with what zeal we will,
Something still remains undone,
Something uncompleted still
Waits the rising of the sun.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Something Left Undone"
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"A Psalm of Life"
Turn, turn, my wheel! All things must change
To something new, to something strange;
Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
To-morrow be to-day.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Kéramos
There rises the moon, broad and tranquil, through the branches of a walnut tree on a hill opposite. I apostrophize it in the words of Faust; "O gentle moon, that lookest for the last time upon my agonies!" --or something to that effect.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Charles Sumner, September 17, 1842
I promise myself great pleasure from my visit to England. You know I am to stay with Dickens while in London; and beside his own very agreeable society, I shall enjoy that of the most noted literary men of the day, which will be a great gratification to me.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Stephen Longfellow, September 17, 1842
I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,
The manifold, soft charms,
That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,
Like some old poet's rhymes.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Hymn to the Night"
O gift of God! O perfect day:
Whereon shall no man work, but play;
Whereon it is enough for me,
Not to be doing, but to be!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"A Day of Sunshine"
If a woman shows too often the Medusa's head, she must not be astonished if her lover is turned into stone.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk