Customer Reviews

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings (Library of America)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

J.D. McClatchy here presents a thoughtful selection of Longfellow's verse. Although ignored by contemporary readers and dismissed by the academy, Longfellow is a wrtier who, though never profound, is sincere, engaging, accessible, and humble--qualities rarely associated with modern poetry. It is difficult to read such saccarhine classics as "The Children's Hour" and "A Psalm of Life" without either shrivelling from the sweetness or retreating into a shallow camp perspective, but for the reader willing to make the effort, Longfellow offers the deep rewards of meter, rhyme, and narrative--and the rare pleasure of lines that do not dazzle or daunt by ambiguity. As the poet writes, "Such songs have power to quiet / The restless pulse of care, / And come like the benediction / That follows after prayer."

One's only regret with this volume (a criticism one might make, I suppose, of any selection) is that McClatchy did not include more--specifically, the complete "Tales of a Wayside Inn," which, though represented rather amply, surely should have been included in its entirety as the happiest vehicle for Longfellow's story-based strengths. "The Bell of Atri," one of the most charming of the tales, should certainly be here. Then, too, the editor seems rather determined in his selection to present a more somber presentation of the poet than is warrented by his full corpus. (Perhaps he aims to make Longfellow more attractive to an audience accustomed to the confessional and the dour.) Oh, well. In compensation we do get useful notes, an excellent chronology, and the delightful novella "Kavanagh"--all of which make this surely the most pleasant poetry revival of the past several years.

Longfellow's conventional morality and straightforward manner of expression have long caused his work to be unfairly ignored by serious readers. But those who are willing to give him a try will be rewarded by masterful storytelling, resourceful treatment of American themes, a truly sympathetic imagination, and (perhaps most importantly for poetry lovers) constant metrical experimentation. Unlike, say, Tennyson, who arguably had a better ear, Longfellow was never really satisfied with blank verse and instead played with unusual (for the time) metrical forms. Many people today forget that Longfellow was a highly educated man -- a professor of comparative literature at Harvard and a speaker of numerous languages -- whose broad reading led him to unusual forms and themes.

For those who think of Longfellow as just a schlockmeister, I recommend starting with "The Cross of Snow" (his very private meditation on his second wife's violent death) and "The Slave's Dream." For those interested in great stories in verse, try the selections here from "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (yes, it's a darn shame that more was not included) and "Evangeline." For those interested in Americana, try "The Building of the Ship" and "The New England Tragedies" (the latter being verse dramas on religious persecution and the witchcraft hysteria in Massachusetts). And for those interested in formal experimentation, try "My Lost Youth" and "The Saga of King Olaf."

Like all Library of America editions, this is a beautifully printed book, with helpful notes and a chronology of the author's life. I just wish they had included more!

The poetry and novella here are very enjoyable to read. It is smooth, well-written, melodious poetry, and one realizes why Longfellow was so loved in his own day. Longfellow, with others, such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, is one of the great American poets. Unfortunately, Library of America chose to only publish a selection of his work. As before noted by another reviewer, "Tales of a Wayside Inn" is only partial, though the "Song of Hiawatha" is here complete (thankfully). This seems inexcusable, since Library of America found time and space for all of Poe, Whitman, Frost, and Stevens, not to mention minor poets like Emerson and Thoreau. Longfellow, as one of the major American poets, deserves better. So 5 stars for his poetry, but 3 stars for this edition of LoA.

This time he presents an edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's books that's every bit as timely and interesting as his own very 20th century poems.

McClatchy's own writing in every field is widely acclaimed, and in a way he is the Longfellow we deserve, with both poems of spiritual affirmation and the poetry of doubt, jostling side by side, uneasy in harness. Longfellow's book Tales of a Wayside Inn is given a dramatic reading here, for McClatchy selects not only the best of the Tales but also tries to find room for the body and the heart in all its different avatars. His excerpts from Michael Angelo are, as well, in tune with what we now know and feel about Michelangelo in the present time of the early 21st century, that he was as great a poet as he was a painter and sculptor, and probably a gay man to boot. Poems like Longfellow's HIAWATHA and EVANGELINE are sensitively edited to bring forward their multicultural and ecological interests. All in all, Longfellow may be the most forwardlooking of all the poets of 19th century USA, and that's a strong statement considering we are putting him ahead of (among others) Emerson, Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Very, and Melville.

My wife and I are enjoying this book immensely. We previously knew Longfellow only from extracts in anthologies.
It is nice to read all of Hiawatha. And much of the other material is new to us, especially the works about Michelangelo. His novel and table-talk are also pleasant surprises; we would have liked some of his non-fictional writing.
The notes are interesting, but it would have been helpful to indicate in the text where a note occurs. And some more material about Longfellow and his times would have been nice; there is a nice chronology. There is too much about the textual sources.
But the quibbles are minor. Longfellow is worth a revival and this book goes a long way.

A refresher course of my favorite poems all in one volume. I even discovered one of my favorite Christmas songs was actually a poem by Longfellow. I keep it on my coffee table

Longfellow is a gas! This collection contains the mandatory Song of Hiawatha and Paul Revere.
It also includes prose works, like Cavanaugh. You have to read Cavanaugh because Longfellow actually gets sarcastic and comes off sounding like a frustrated 2011 idealist.

Here's an author who wanted to be one of the authentic American writers, and pulled it off. Here's an author who believed that crafting a poem about something important would help people remember, and he was right. The work is inspiring, especially compared with deconstruction, criticism, etc from people who otherwise have little to say.

This book was a gift for my brother, and he is an english major so this should come in handy for sure.