Show LONGFELLOW AS SHOWN IN HIS POETRY DOE FEW lives have been so serene so happy happy happy hap hap- py and so void of everything unpleasant ant as was that of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow His life flowed on like a peaceful stream which is never never disturbed nor troubled by winds and storms His career was prosperous from beginning to tor r end he was always surrounded by those who loved and honored him the things he liked best were always within his reach So it is not surprising to toC C J find his poems breathing forth peace 1 and contentment r. r Longfellow struck but few chords he hei hes i s I never experienced the fire of a Byron f force and violence were foreign to his x very being He seldom wrote about things that were displeasing to him and andA A then only from a sense of duty His slavery poems are an example of this He was not in favor of slavery but he did not rail against it Longfellow is truly the childrens children's poet as his ideas and language are so simple his thoughts and expressions so pure Perhaps no title wo would ld have pl pleased ased him better for he dearly loved children and wrote many of his most beautiful poems about them He fully realized their purity and often said how bleak and dreary the earth would be without them He liked home life life- nothing pleased him better than to sit by the fire and converse with friends or read some fa- fa fa favored favored book He was extremely fond of reading and was in fact more of a book poet than a nature poet He borrowed in a legitimate way very extensively from Norse Spanish and Italian literature literature literature litera litera- ture but he beautified and all that he touched Longfellow never argued about b ut immortal immortal immortal im mortal life or or the existence of God they were too plainly known to argue about He felt sure that whatever God sent was for mans man's best good and he trusted implicitly implicitly implicitly im im- in His providence He believed that men were purified by their trials and bade the troubled look up and strive 1 on He loved the sea it seemed to remind remind remind re- re mind him of the immensity of immor immor- To him life was but a school a and death only a transition to a higher J Jand and better life 1 As he believed in God so also did he believe in the universal brotherhood of man and nd taught it in most impressive ways Indeed animals and flowers seemed to have spirits almost akin to human souls Many were the poems in which he taught men to see in the flowers flowers flowers flow flow- ers and birds manifestations of Gods God's love His charity was great and his religious ideas broad and lofty He realized that the life one lives means far more than the outward professions he may make His own life was a calm peaceful poem teaching men to love their brothers and to live nearer their God i Mary E. E Connelly |