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Voices of the Night (Notable American Authors)

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[This review applies to _The Works of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow_ published by The Wordsworth Poetry Library.]
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Poor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- not only do many
people get his name and the name of William Wordsworth
mixed up, but he seems "doomed" in "modern" times to
be labeled, filed, and forgotten as a "sentimental,
sing-song poet." What an injustice! This man was
considered to be the premier poet of his day, and while
it is true that fashions in taste change, it is not
true that deeper insight, once gained, is meant to be
brushed aside. Few people ever achieve deeper insight,
so we should listen sometimes to those who do.
There are many poems in this complete collection
which even modern academics may not be aware of. I was
surprised to learn that a modern academic admitted that
he had no idea of where the idea of "poetic inspiration"
came from [ancient Greece] though he could have probably
spouted quotes from Marx or Derrida line for line. We
have lost contact with the knowledge and culture, not
only of America's past, but of the world's cultural past.
Too much attention has been lost on Longfellow in
"immortalizing" him for the memorized poems. More
attention needs to be paid to him, especially in
these modern times, for his deeper insights, his
offering up of the Orphic, Pythagorean, and hermetic
traditions as well. As one modern critic has said of
him: "If Longfellow's achievements have been minimized
in our century, that is partly because students of
American literature have been less interested in the
conservative aesthetics of restraint than in the
comparatively radical-experimental aesthetics of
visionary romanticism." -- Lawrence Buell; "Introduction"
to _Selected Poems_ (Penguin Classics). Yet, moderns
are cutting themselves off from an even loftier
visionary past...one that extends back to ancient
times and has richly influenced the thought and

writings of many of the world's more profound
thinkers and poets. Longfellow was also a translator
of the work of other poets -- but we should understand
that we can tell something about a poet and his
thinking...and his being shaped by experience...in
his selection of the poems that he wishes to take the
time and effort to translate.
Thus, we should look carefully -- and listen
carefully - to Longfellow when he chooses to translate
"Coplas De Manrique" (from the Spanish). It is not
just everyone who would translate, or understand,
something like this: "But O, how false and full of guile/
That world, which wore so soft a smile/But to betray!/
She, that had been his friend before,/Now from the
fated monarch tore/Her charms away."
And the explanatory note which was printed with
the poem helps us to see why Longfellow chose it:
"In the language of his historian, 'Don Jorge Manrique,
in [this] elegant Ode, full of poetic beauties, rich
embellishments of genius, and high moral reflections,
mourned the death of his father as with a funeral hymn.
This praise is not exaggerated. The poem is a model
of its kind. Its conception is solemn and beautiful;
and, in accordance with it, the style moves on, --
calm, dignified, and majestic." (p. 27)
The poems I would suggest need fresh attention and
modern reading are: Coplas De Manrique; Endymion;
The Goblet of Life; Mezzo Cammin; The Occultation of
Orion; Gaspar Becerra; Suspiria; Prometheus; Enceladus;
Fata Morgana; The Haunted Chamber; Charles Sumner
[the thoughts expressed]; The Herons of Elmwood; Haroun
Al Raschid; Palingenesis; Hawthorne (May 23, 1864);
Three Friends of Mine (5 sonnets); The Descent of
the Muses; Keramos; Rondel (translation from Froissart);
Ovid In Exile (Tristia, Book III, Elegy X); from
the Seven Sonnets from Michael Angelo (To Vittoria
Colonna; Dante; Canzone); Jugurtha; Night; Hermes
Trismegistus; Possibilities; Dedication (before

the poem Michael Angelo).
There is much of wonder, solemnity, and grandeur
in Longfellow. As Albert Glover says in the
Introduction to this volume: "...Longfellow's work
remains noble in its dedication to ideals which
defy mere fashion. His voice is learned, tolerant,
compassionate, and courageous." (--Albert Glover,
"Introduction.")
Here are a few lines from "Endymion":
Like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;
Nor voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.

It comes, -- the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity, --
In silence and alone
To seek the elected one.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
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