Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems & Other Writings (LOA #118) (Library of America) - Hardcover

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 188301185X ISBN 13: 9781883011857

Publisher: Library of America, 2000

Synopsis

No American writer of the nineteenth century was more universally enjoyed and admired than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His works were extraordinary bestsellers for their era, achieving fame both here and abroad. Now, for the first time in over twenty-five years, The Library of America offers a full-scale literary portrait of America’s greatest popular poet.

Here are the poems that created an American mythology: Evangeline in the forest primeval, Hiawatha by the shores of Gitche Gumee, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the wreck of the Hesperus, the village blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree, the strange courtship of Miles Standish, the maiden Priscilla and the hesitant John Alden; verses like “A Psalm of Life” and “The Children’s Hour,” whose phrases and characters have become part of the culture. Here as well, along with the public antislavery poems, are the sparer, darker lyrics—"The Fire of Drift-Wood," “Mezzo Cammin,” “Snow-Flakes,” and many others—that show a more austere aspect of Longfellow’s poetic gift.

Erudite and fluent in many languages, Longfellow was endlessly fascinated with the byways of history and the curiosities of legend. As a verse storyteller he had no peer, whether in the great book-length narratives such as Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha (both included in full) or the stories collected in Tales of a Wayside Inn (reprinted here in a generous selection). His many poems on literary themes, such as his moving homages to Dante and Chaucer, his verse translations from Lope de Vega, Heinrich Heine, and Michelangelo, and his ambitious verse dramas, notably The New England Tragedies (also complete), are remarkable in their range and ambition.

As a special feature, this volume restores to print Longfellow’s novel Kavanagh, a study of small-town life and literary ambition that was praised by Emerson as an important contribution to the development of American fiction. A selection of essays rounds out of the volume and provides testimony of Longfellow’s concern with creating an American national literature.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

About this title

About the Author:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was the most popular and admired American poet of the nineteenth century. 

J. D. McClatchy (1945–2018), volume editor, was the author of many books of poetry and essays, including Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems (2014), and the editor of nine Library of America publications. He wrote the libretto for Ned Rorem’s operatic version of Our Town, taught at Yale University, and served as editor of The Yale Review.

Review:

Divina Commedia: Purgatorio. Beatrice
Divina Commedia: Purgatorio. The Celestial Pilot
Divina Commedia: Purgatorio. The Terrestial Paradise
Rondel
The Sea Hath Its Pearls
Retribution
Aftermath
Afternoon In February
The Arrow And The Song
The Arsenal At Springfield
Autumn Within
The Belfry Of Bruges
The Bells Of San Blas
Birds Of Passage
The Bridge
The Broken Oar; Sonnet
The Builders
The Building Of The Ship
The Challenge
Changed
Chaucer; Sonnet
Children
The Children's Hour
Christmas Bells
Christus; A Mystery: 3. The New England Tagedies: Saint John
Christus; A Mystery: 3. The New England Tragedies: Giles Corey
Christus; A Mystery: 3. The New England Tragedies: John Endicott
Consolation
The Courtship Of Miles Standish (complete)
A Covered Bridge At Lucerne
The Cross Of Snow
The Cumberland
Curfew
The Day Is Done
A Day Of Sunshine
Daybreak
Daylight And Moonlight
The Devil's Bridge
Divina Commedia (introductory Poems): 1
Divina Commedia (introductory Poems): 2
Divina Commedia (introductory Poems): 3
Divina Commedia (introductory Poems): 4
Divina Commedia (introductory Poems): 5
Divina Commedia (introductory Poems): 6
Eliot's Oak; Sonnet
The Emperor's Bird's-nest
Enceladus
Evangeline; A Tale Of Acadie
Excelsior
The Fiftieth Birthday Of Agassiz; May 28, 1857
The Fire Of Driftwood; Devereux Farm, Near Marblehead
The First Passover: Mount Quarantania
The First Passover: The Tower Of Magdala
Footsteps Of Angels
The Galaxy; Sonnet
A Gleam Of Sunshine
Glotto's Tower
The Goblet Of Life
God's Acre
Haroun Al Raschid
The Harvest Moon; Sonnet
The Haunted Chamber
Haunted Houses
Hawthorne
Hermes Trismegistus
Hymn To The Night
In The Churchyard At Cambridge
It Is Not Always May
The Jewish Cemetery At Newport
Keats; Sonnet
Keramos
Killed At The Ford
The Ladder Of Saint Augustine
The Light Of Stars
The Meeting
Mezzo Cammin
Michael Angelo: Dedication
Michael Angelo: In The Coliseum
Michael Angelo: Monologue
Michael Angelo: The Dead Christ
Michael Angelo: The Last Judgment
Michael Angelo: The Oaks Of Monte Luca
Michael Angelo: Viterbo
Milton; Sonnet
Moonlight
Morituri Salutamus
My Lost Youth
A Nameless Grave; Sonnet
The Occultation Of Orion
The Old Clock On The Stairs
The Open Window
Palingenesis
The Phantom Ship
The Poet's Calendar: April
The Poet's Calendar: August
The Poet's Calendar: December
The Poet's Calendar: February
The Poet's Calendar: January
The Poet's Calendar: July
The Poet's Calendar: June
The Poet's Calendar: March
The Poet's Calendar: May
The Poet's Calendar: November
The Poet's Calendar: October
The Poet's Calendar: September
The Poets; Sonnet
A Psalm Of Life
Rain In Summer
The Rainy Day
Resignation
Returns To Work
The Revenge Of Rain-in-the-face
The Ropewalk
Sandalphon
Seaweed
The Second Passover: Simon Magnis And Helen Of Tyre
Shakespeare; Sonnet
Sir Humphrey Gilbert
The Skeleton In Armor
The Slave Singing At Midnight
The Slave's Dream
Snowflakes
Something Left Undone
The Song Of Hiawatha
Sonnet: Autumn
Sonnet: Dante (2)
Sonnet: The Evening Star
The Sound Of The Sea; Sonnet
The Spirit Of Poetry
The St. Gothard Pass
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Finale
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Interlude (1)
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Interlude (2)
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Interlude (3)
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Interlude (4)
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Interlude (5)
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Interlude (6)
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Paul Revere's Ride
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Prelude. The Wayside Inn
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Robert Of Sicily
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: The Birds Of Killingworth
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: The Falcon Of Ser Federigo
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: The Legend Of Rabbi Ben Levy
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: The Saga Of King Olaf
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The First Day: Toquemada
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The Second Day: Kambalu
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The Second Day: The Cobbler Of Hagenau
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The Second Day: The Legend Beautiful
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The Third Day: Azrael
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The Third Day: Finale
Tales Of A Wayside Inn: The Third Day: The Monk Of Casal-maggiore
The Third Passover: Aceldama
The Third Passover: Pontius Pilate
Three Friends Of Mine: 1; Sonnet
Three Friends Of Mine: 2; Sonnet
Three Friends Of Mine: 3; Sonnet
Three Friends Of Mine: 4; Sonnet
Three Friends Of Mine: 5; Sonnet
The Three Silences Of Molinos; To John Greenleaf Whittier
To A Child
To The Driving Cloud
To The River Charles
Twilight
The Two Angels
Ultima Thule: Elegiac
Ultima Thule: Helen Of Tyre
Ultima Thule: Jugurtha
Ultima Thule: L'envoi. The Poet And His Songs
Ultima Thule: My Cathedral
Ultima Thule: Night
Ultima Thule: The Burial Of The Poet; Richard Henry Dana
Ultima Thule: The Chamber Over The Gate
Ultima Thule: The Tide Rises
Venice; Sonnet
Victor And Vanquished
The Village Blacksmith
Vittoria Colonna
Vox Populi
The Warden Of The Cinque Ports (the Duke Of Wellington)
The Warning
Weariness
The Wind Over The Chimney
The Witnesses
The Wreck Of The Hesperus
The Good Shepherd
Tomorrow
Sonnet: Dante (1)
Sonnet: The Artist
Sonnet: To Vittoria Colonna
Saint Teresa's Book-mark
The Grave
A Neapolitan Canzonet
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

About this edition

• Publisher: Library of America
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 188301185X
• ISBN 13: 9781883011857
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 825
• Editor: McClatchy J. D.