Voices Of The Night - And Other Poems

Longfellow's first collection of early poems, published in 1895, with a short biography by the editor, a chronological list of his works, plus analysis and commentary on Longfellow's themes, style, and talent, by various authors.


By : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

01 - Life Of Longfellow and Chronological List of Works



02 - Critical Opinions



03 - Voices Of The Night - Prelude



04 - Hymn To The Night



05 - A Psalm Of Life



06 - The Reaper and the Flowers



07 - The Light of Stars



08 - Footsteps of Angels



09 - Flowers



10 - The Beleagured City



11 - Midnight Mass for the Dying Year



12 - The Skeleton in Armor



13 - The Wreck of the Hesperus



14 - The Luck of Edenhall



15 - The Elected King



16 - The Village Blacksmith



17 - Endymion



18 - The Two Locks of Hair



19 - It Is Not Always May



20 - The Rainy Day



21 - God's Acre



22 - To The River Charles



23 - Blind Bartimeus



24 - Maidenhood



25 - Excelsior


Pleasant it was, when woods were green
     And winds were soft and low,
To lie amid some sylvan scene,
Where, the long drooping boughs between,
Shadows dark and sunlight sheen
     Alternate come and go;

Or where the denser grove receives
     No sunlight from above,
But the dark foliage interweaves
In one unbroken roof of leaves,
Underneath whose sloping eaves
     The shadows hardly move.

Beneath some patriarchal tree
     I lay upon the ground;
His hoary arms uplifted he,
And all the broad leaves over me
Clapped their little hands in glee,
     With one continuous sound;—

A slumberous sound, a sound that brings
     The feelings of a dream,
As of innumerable wings,
As, when a bell no longer swings,
Faint the hollow murmur rings
     O'er meadow, lake, and stream.

And dreams of that which cannot die,
     Bright visions, came to me,
As lapped in thought I used to lie,
And gaze into the summer sky,
Where the sailing clouds went by,
     Like ships upon the sea;

Dreams that the soul of youth engage
     Ere Fancy has been quelled;
Old legends of the monkish page,
Traditions of the saint and sage,
Tales that have the rime of age,
     And chronicles of eld.

And, loving still these quaint old themes,
     Even in the city's throng
I feel the freshness of the streams,
That, crossed by shades and sunny gleams,
Water the green land of dreams,
     The holy land of song.

Therefore, at Pentecost, which brings
     The Spring, clothed like a bride,
When nestling buds unfold their wings,
And bishop's-caps have golden rings,
Musing upon many things,
     I sought the woodlands wide.

The green trees whispered low and mild;
     It was a sound of joy!
They were my playmates when a child,
And rocked me in their arms so wild!
Still they looked at me and smiled,
     As if I were a boy;

And ever whispered, mild and low,
     "Come, be a child once more!"
And waved their long arms to and fro,
And beckoned solemnly and slow;
O, I could not choose but go
     Into the woodlands hoar,—

Into the blithe and breathing air,
     Into the solemn wood,
Solemn and silent everywhere!
Nature with folded hands seemed there
Kneeling at her evening prayer!
     Like one in prayer I stood.

Before me rose an avenue
     Of tall and sombrous pines;
Abroad their fan-like branches grew,
And, where the sunshine darted through,
Spread a vapor soft and blue,
     In long and sloping lines.

And, falling on my weary brain,
     Like a fast-falling shower,
The dreams of youth came back again,—
Low lispings of the summer rain,
Dropping on the ripened grain,
     As once upon the flower.

Visions of childhood! Stay, oh stay!
     Ye were so sweet and wild!
And distant voices seemed to say,
"It cannot be! They pass away!
Other themes demand thy lay;
     Thou art no more a child!

"The land of Song within thee lies,
     Watered by living springs;
The lids of Fancy's sleepless eyes
Are gates unto that Paradise;
Holy thoughts, like stars, arise;
     Its clouds are angels' wings.

"Learn, that henceforth thy song shall be,
     Not mountains capped with snow,
Nor forests sounding like the sea,
Nor rivers flowing ceaselessly,
Where the woodlands bend to see
     The bending heavens below.

"There is a forest where the din
     Of iron branches sounds!
A mighty river roars between,
And whosoever looks therein
Sees the heavens all black with sin,
     Sees not its depths, nor bounds.

"Athwart the swinging branches cast,
     Soft rays of sunshine pour;
Then comes the fearful wintry blast;
Our hopes, like withered leaves, fall fast;
Pallid lips say, 'It is past!
     We can return no more!'

"Look, then, into thine heart, and write!
     Yes, into Life's deep stream!
All forms of sorrow and delight,
All solemn Voices of the Night,
That can soothe thee, or affright,—
     Be these henceforth thy theme."

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