The Wreck Of The Hesperus Poem Analysis

Respect The Elderly In the poem “The Wreck of the Hesperus”, author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow develops the central idea by using cases of similes, imagery, and personification to teach people of all ages to not succumb to hubris, as it will lead to tragic consequences. Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine and died on March 24, 1882 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, having lived most of his life on the east coast where storms and cold weather are normal. Longfellow first gained his inspiration to write “The Wreck of the Hesperus” after the great Blizzard of 1839, which destroyed 20 ships and ended 40 lives in the process. The poem was based off of the destruction of the Favorite near Norman’s Woe with a woman that was tied

Longfellow appeals to the sense of touch and sound to make the winds easier to imagine in one’s mind. When the wind blew “colder and louder” (Longfellow 6), the reader can infer that the storm was getting worse, and eventually it was going to get deadly. The captain’s arrogance led him to overlook the obvious danger to him and his daughter, therefore he set sail to the open sea. The old sailor, with his experience and knowledge, knew when a dangerous storm is about to occur, giving emphasis to the strong winds and extremely cold temperatures. The reader imagines themselves riding the boat, vulnerable to the elements, getting pushed around by the cold, deafening winds, wondering why the captain was determined to keep sailing. Moreover, the author uses sight to depict the aftermath of the wreck and what had become of the maiden after the incident. The salt from the sea was “frozen on her breast” and “in her eyes” (Longfellow 21), indicating her death. Longfellow uses sight to describe the horrible death the daughter had died, proving to the readers once again that being arrogant like the captain had been only brings tragedy. The salt symbolizes guilt and negativity, and being frozen on the daughter represents that the maiden had been stripped of her innocence. The captain, who had been attempting to protect his daughter from such outcomes, had failed to

When the Hesperus had been sailing in the storm, “[it] shuddered and paused” (Longfellow 7) as if the boat was struggling to get through the winds that were pushing back. The boat’s effort to stay afloat shows the captain’s determination to set sail out to sea while pushing the boat to its limits. The schooner’s reluctant decision to move forward also represents the strength of the storm and its strong winds. The schooner’s human-like reluctance also shows it’s ambivalent feelings toward obeying the captain’s maneuvers, as if it was against the Hesperus’s will to follow his orders. Additionally, there are other ships who are struggling to stay afloat in such weather. The captain observes ships that “cannot live [i]n such an angry sea” implying that he can outlive those ships in distress. The angry sea translates to waves sloshing violently in the sea, threatening sink the ships. The captain, having confidence in his abilities, believed he could sail in the sea during an intense storm without having much trouble as the other ships. The ships in distress were struggling to get back to the port and safely docked, knowing all too well that they wouldn’t survive if the storm got worse. In brief, the use of personification in the poem allows the reader to see how dangerous it was sailing out in the storm through the human-like struggles of the