Uploaded November 2012 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This sonnet refers to Fanny's portrait by Samuel Rowse in 1859. It was Longfellow's bedroom at Craigie House in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A sad event took place there 18 years previously - this is quoted from wiki:
"On July 9, 1861, a hot day, Fanny (his wife and the mother of three young daughters) was putting locks of her children's hair into an envelope and attempting to seal it with hot sealing wax while Longfellow took a nap. Her dress suddenly caught fire... Longfellow, awakened from his nap, rushed to help her ... He stifled the flames with his body as best he could, but she was already badly burned...
Fanny was taken to her room to recover and a doctor was called. ... The next morning, July 10, 1861, she died shortly after 10 o'clock after requesting a cup of coffee.
Longfellow, in trying to save her, had burned himself badly enough for him to be unable to attend her funeral. His facial injuries led him to stop shaving, thereafter wearing the beard which has become his trademark."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow
To me, Longfellow is the most endearing of the poets. I don't mean that he wrote the best poetry, though his talent was considerable and many of his lines will live forever. I mean his attitude to life and his character - I wish there were more men like Longfellow in the world. Auden, on the other hand, wrote better poetry by any standard. I like Auden's poetry but I can't like him.
There is an American movement in schools called Poetry Out Loud. It is - "a contest that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.
Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that starts at the classroom level. Winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. "
poetryoutloud.org/about
The kind of reading that wins Poetry Out Loud is different from the way I read. I'm often criticised for not meeting the same standards of emphasis and passion. They sometimes mention that I end-stop lines which is apparently wrong too.
Here's a sample to compare and contrast. This is not a criticism of the young lady's performance: she is reading in the manner favoured by the judges of Poetry Out Loud contests.
youtu.be/lFdC4hpoUOo
In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face — the face of one long dead —
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died; and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
This sonnet refers to Fanny's portrait by Samuel Rowse in 1859. It was Longfellow's bedroom at Craigie House in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A sad event took place there 18 years previously - this is quoted from wiki:
"On July 9, 1861, a hot day, Fanny (his wife and the mother of three young daughters) was putting locks of her children's hair into an envelope and attempting to seal it with hot sealing wax while Longfellow took a nap. Her dress suddenly caught fire... Longfellow, awakened from his nap, rushed to help her ... He stifled the flames with his body as best he could, but she was already badly burned...
Fanny was taken to her room to recover and a doctor was called. ... The next morning, July 10, 1861, she died shortly after 10 o'clock after requesting a cup of coffee.
Longfellow, in trying to save her, had burned himself badly enough for him to be unable to attend her funeral. His facial injuries led him to stop shaving, thereafter wearing the beard which has become his trademark."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow
To me, Longfellow is the most endearing of the poets. I don't mean that he wrote the best poetry, though his talent was considerable and many of his lines will live forever. I mean his attitude to life and his character - I wish there were more men like Longfellow in the world. Auden, on the other hand, wrote better poetry by any standard. I like Auden's poetry but I can't like him.
There is an American movement in schools called Poetry Out Loud. It is - "a contest that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.
Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that starts at the classroom level. Winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. "
poetryoutloud.org/about
The kind of reading that wins Poetry Out Loud is different from the way I read. I'm often criticised for not meeting the same standards of emphasis and passion. They sometimes mention that I end-stop lines which is apparently wrong too.
Here's a sample to compare and contrast. This is not a criticism of the young lady's performance: she is reading in the manner favoured by the judges of Poetry Out Loud contests.
youtu.be/lFdC4hpoUOo
In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face — the face of one long dead —
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died; and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
