Tag Archives: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Case for Memorizing Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: August 19, 2020

To bolster yourself against this age of anxiety, memorize robust poetry. Other poetry works as well.

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Stately Pines, Cathedral Towers

By Robin Bates | Published: September 14, 2019

Many American poets have found God in nature, including Longfellow. His “Cathedral Towers” compares pine trees to a church.

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The Children’s Hour

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2019

Monday I am retooling a post that I wrote five years ago to apply to yesterday’s visit to my four grandchildren. As the three oldest, Esmé (7), Etta (5), and Eden (3), swarmed over me on their playroom floor, I recalled Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Children’s Hour.” It too features an elder man being swarmed […]

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Love’s Wavering Image

By Robin Bates | Published: February 9, 2019

Spiritual Sunday I share a lovely Longfellow poem about gazing into dark waters, featuring the hypnotic rhythm and rhyme that we associate with the poet.  The speaker recalls a time in the past when he was depressed and wished the tide would carry him away. He no longer feels that way but imagines others experiencing […]

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Mourning the Loss of a Son

By Robin Bates | Published: August 12, 2018

Longfellow turned to the story of Absolom to console a friend who had lost a son. “Chamber over the Gate” captures the grief in a supportive way.

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Personal News: A 2018 Retirement

By Robin Bates | Published: January 5, 2017

In June 2018, after 38 years of teaching college, I will retire. I don’t want to go out like Walter Savage Landor’s old man–“the fire is low

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Tales of the Wayside Inn

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2016

A visit to the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts made me aware of Longfellow’s collection “Tales from the Wayside Inn.” Like Longfellow’s storytellers, I had a good time there.

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Footprints on the Sands of Time

By Robin Bates | Published: June 25, 2016

Longfellow’s “Psalm of Life” quotes from today’s Gospel reading–“let the dead bury their own dead”–in ways that help illuminate Jesus’s message.

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What Draws Kids to Eating Dramas

By Robin Bates | Published: June 13, 2016

Eating stories enthrall my grandchildren because they reenact the childhood drama of separating from the parents and developing autonomous selves.

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