Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s: A Poet Like no other Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a national literary figure of America that changed the plane of literature forever (hwlongfellow.org). His powerful poetry moved people emotionally like no other and inspired fellow artists. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a life-long friend of Longfellow, said: “I read your poems over and over . . . nothing equal to some of them was ever written in this world.” (hwlongfellow.org). He was a skilled craftsman of words and affectively expressed his personal virtues through his poems. Equipped with a lively imagination, many of his works became cornerstones of American culture for generations and significantly raised poetries standing in America (poetryfoundation.org). …show more content…
The next fifteen years would be the defining moments of Longfellow’s career. He accepted his post at Harvard shortly after returning (hwlongfellow.org). The job was full time and Longfellow found the position quite intolerable (hwlongfellow.org). Meanwhile, he was constantly working on his poetry (hwlongfellow.org). The burning passion Longfellow felt for writing was stronger than ever after the second trip to Europe. He was a writer at heart since a child and never let anything stop him from reaching his dreams. In 1839 he published “Hyperion” which was met with international success and brought Longfellow to the forefront of poetry during his time (hwlongfellow.org). After that, he never looked back. His poetry collections “Voices in the Night” (1839) and “Ballads and Poems” (1841) were met energetically by an international audience (poetryfoundation.org). These poems launched him to extraordinary fame almost instantaneously (poetryfoundation.org). Later on in 1854 Longfellow was able to retire and became one of America’s first self-sustaining authors (hwlongfellow.org). An extraordinary accomplishment that inspired others for generation. The best of Longfellow’s works were now behind him yet his fame continued to grow
Paul Revere’s great ride through the night to save the americans from the huge british force was a big piece of American history during that time. Many have written about Paul Revere but longfellow doesn't tell the whole story. Longfellow's poem doesn't tell the whole story but Paul’s letter does.
One of his most famous poems was "Lift Every Voice and Sing." His brother later added music to the poem. It is considered to be the unofficial "Negro National Anthem". It was a bold piece of work that spoke of the struggle of the African American in America and his optimistic hope for a better future.
Walt Whitman was a famous American poet who wrote many great poems during the Civil War. Though he originally worked for printing presses and newspapers, he later became a famous poet. During the Civil War, Whitman wrote many patriotic poems that supported the ideas of the North. Whitman’s poems will forever be linked to the American Civil War era of poetry. Walt Whitman was an iconic American poet with an interesting life that later impacted his works of poetry.
Langston Hughes is considered by many readers to be the most significant black poet of the twentieth century. Except for a few examples, all his poems are about social injustice in America. The somber tone of his writing often reflected his mood. Race relations were present in almost his whole career, following him from his first poem to his last.
Poetry served as another form of self expression for African-Americans, similar to that of Jazz and the Blues. This form of media served the same (or a very much similar) as music did, Some notable poets include the likes of Langston Hughes, who is considered by some to be one of the most important and influential Harlem Renaissance poets of the time, James Weldon Johnson, and Claude McKay. Most notable of the three is, poet and intellectual, Langston Hughes who, in addition to writing books and plays, served to spread the emotions of African-Americans as well as himself and to make clear the ambitions and dreams of the American people within the United States. As stated by Concordia Online Education, ”Hughes wrote novels, plays and short stories, but it is his emotional, heartfelt poems that expressed the common experiences of the culture of black people for which he is most remembered”.
...s work was always rich and full of details, complex contradictions. He appreciated everyone in his years of life. His most favorite thing while writing books and essays and poetry was using words to force his readers to rethink their own lives and obstacles creatively. He always spent his life rethinking his past and future actions, thoughts, asking questions to get a better understanding of concepts. He loved to look to nature for greater intensity and meaning for his life.
Langston Hughes was passionate about expressing the lives of black people through his poetry. His poetry expressed the pain and suffering that black people had to endure. Many critics have claimed that Langston Hughes created an unattractive view of black life through his poetry, but he was only demonstrating the realities of their lives. He didn’t make up stories about how great life was; he wrote realistically about the fear, segregation, and lost innocence of the black race. Langston Hughes left an immense impression on the literature of his time period. He influenced many other writers and helped to establish a voice for black people. Langston Hughes was an extraordinary poet that should be known as the man who brought light to the injustice that the people of color of America had to survive.
Unlike writers such as Edgar Allen Poe, Longfellow’s poems were “overly optimistic and sentimental” (Kinsella 256). He stood out amongst any other writer of his time. While most authors wrote dark, gothic works and stories, Longfellow’s were happy, positive and encouraging due to his wonderful childhood. He was inspired by his hometown, Portland, the sea, poets like Sir Walter Scott and Samuel Rogers, literature and music were all inspirations to him (Arvin 8/9). These parts of his childhood along with the new, exciting ideas of Romanticism are what shaped Longfellow’s style of writing. This is what drew in his audience because his poems were relatable and were written from the heart. Even though Longfellow went through some hard times with the loss of two wives and suffering from vertigo and peritonitis, he never allowed these complications affect his writing or his calmness (Kunitz 5). His control over his mind and body helped create some of the most beloved p...
For example, Longfellow wrote in his poem in stanza eight, “A hurry of hoof in a village street… kindled the land into flame with its heat,” and in stanza three Longfellow wrote, “With muffled oar silently rowed to the Charlestown shore.” This shows that, Revere’s steed was galloping in a hurry and the colonists were in growing need for freedom, and also Revere trying not to get caught rowed silently to Charlestown shore. This is important because Longfellow over exaggerates what Paul Revere did during his ride but it entertains the reader and has a sense of imagery anyone can relate to. This means that, before Longfellow wrote this poem Paul Revere wasn’t very famous but now he is thanks to
One of the most popular American poets is Walt Whitman. Whitman’s poetry has become a rallying cry for Americans, asking for individuality, self-approval, and even equality. While this poetry seems to be truly groundbreaking, which it objectively was, Whitman was influenced by the writings of others. While Whitman may not have believed in this connection to previous authors, critics have linked him to Emerson, Poe, and even Carlyle. However, many critics have ignored the connection between Walt Whitman and the English writer William Wordsworth.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” is an encouraging poem in which Longfellow has utilized many different poetic elements including imagery, rhyme, metaphor, simile and others. The poem is very easy to understand and is engaging to the reader because of the images the poem invokes. Of all of the elements used, imagery is the most consistent and prevalent poetic element in the poem “A Psalm of Life”. Using imagery, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem describes a life not fully lived, how to live and what a life fully lived looks like.
However, once he hit his second stanza was written the message of encouragement allowed itself to flourish, and gave way to a splendid involving poem. Throughout the poem the words dark, dreary, wind, weary and day were used repeatedly, this is an obvious choice of words to lend to the ear of the reader to give them a thought of his own visions of melancholy existence. But also at the end you can tell where his thoughts began to liven and his small but reoccurring voice of reason and hope chimed in to relieve the poem of encapsulating despair, the mention of past memories in the second stanza mimics that of the third line in the first stanza that talks of clinging vines, and is an accompaniment to the already established emotion. Longfellow’s The Rainy Day compared to other authors or even Longfellow’s own works; may be a shorter, less complicated poem, but what it has is a simple, pure and I dare to say it; raw feeling of time, place and
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart.” This is a saying Longfellow read in Germany where his wife died. The words gave him hope for the future. It inspired him to want to write a series of psalms. The first one, “A Psalm of Life” written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is an uplifting poem that compels us to feel hope for the future. After reading it the first time it had a powerful effect on me. Surprisingly, he wrote this poem few months after his first wife died. Longfellow took his wife’s death and interpreted it as a sign to look at life as fleeting and it passes quickly. I feel that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, after his wife’s death, had an optimistic view on life in the poem, “A Psalm of Life”.
Considering a philosophical approach, this poem has a positive effect on humans to live a better life. It shows how life is serious yet fragile thing and we only get one shot, one wrong move and it's all gone. In life each day is a new day, and each day can be made better than your last. Knowing who you are and where you want to go in life while making your own path for that to happen instead of being 'dumb cattle' is brave. Living your life to the fullest but not leaving anything behind is like not living at all. These three things are Longfellow's key to living and the meaning of life. At the end of it all life is what you make it, live each day as fully as possible because you never know when it could all
William Wordsworth was known as the poet of nature. He devoted his life to poetry and used his feeling for nature to express him self and how he evolved.