Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "The Day is Done" Poem animation

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• published: 26 Mar 2011
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Heres a virtual movie of the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow reading his much loved poem "The Day is Done" Longfellow was very much an inspiration to Ralph Waldo Emerson as Emerson was an inspiration to Walt Whitman.These great poets were brothers in the exposition of original thought and transcandentalism that took them into areas of philosophical and theological reasoniing that transcended the narrow conventional Christian doctrines prevalent during their lifetimes. Longfellow wrote some of the most loved and best-known poems in American literature, including "The Day is Done" and "Paul Revere's Ride." He was the first American to be honored with a bust in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine on February 27, 1807, with his family tracing back to the Plymouth Pilgrims. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, where Nathaniel Hawthorne had been his classmate. Before he concentrated on poetry, Longfellow spent his early career teaching foreign languages, first at Bowdoin and later at Harvard. He was one of the few American poets who were so popular. He could support himself by writing. Longellow's private life was filled with sadness. His first wife, Mary Storer Potter, died shortly after they were married, and his second wife, Frances "Fanny" Appleton, was killed in a fire. His many poems reflect this sadness. He died at the age of 75, March 24, 1882. Longfellow had the gift for romantic storytelling. He published his first book of verse, Voices of the Night, when he was 32. This brought him wide public recognition. Two years later, he published Ballads, which contains some of his most famous poems, including "The Village Blacksmith." He became known for his long poems telling stories by using simple ideas and language based on American history and mythology. These include The Song of Hiawatha, a tale from Native-American legends; The Courtship of Miles Standish, a romance set in the early days of the Pilgrim Fathers; and Evangeline, the story of the French exiles of France's colonies in North America. Kind Regards Jim Clark All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2010 The Day is Done......... The day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight. I see the lights of the village Gleam through the rain and the mist, And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me, That my soul cannot resist: A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain. Come, read to me some poem, Some simple and heartfelt lay, That shall soothe this restless feeling, And banish the thoughts of day. Not from the grand old masters, Not from the bards sublime, Whose distant footsteps echo Through the corridors of Time. For, like strains of martial music, Their mighty thoughts suggest Life's endless toil and endeavor; And to-night I long for rest. Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart, As showers from the clouds of summer, Or tears from the eyelids start; Who, through long days of labor, And nights devoid of ease, Still heard in his soul the music Of wonderful melodies. Such songs have power to quiet The restless pulse of care, And come like the benediction That follows after prayer. Then read from the treasured volume The poem of thy choice, And lend to the rhyme of the poet The beauty of thy voice. And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And as silently steal away