The Golden Legend: "Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat"

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27th, 1807 in Portland, Maine. As a young boy, it was obvious that he was very studious and he quickly became fluent in Latin. He published his first poem, "The Battle of Lovell's Pond", in the Portland Gazette on November 17th, 1820. He was already thinking of a career in literature and, in his senior year, wrote to his father: “I will not disguise it in the least... the fact is, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature, my whole soul burns most ardently after it, and every earthly thought centers in it....” After graduation travels in Europe occupied the next three years and he seemed to easily absorb any language he set himself to learn. On September 14th, 1831, Longfellow married Mary Storer Potter. They settled in Brunswick. His first published book was in 1833, a translation of poems by the Spanish poet Jorge Manrique. He also published a travel book, Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea. During a trip to Europe Mary became pregnant. Sadly, in October 1835, she miscarried at some six months. After weeks of illness she died, at the age of 22 on November 29th, 1835. Longfellow wrote "One thought occupies me night and day... She is dead — She is dead! All day I am weary and sad". In late 1839, Longfellow published Hyperion, a book in prose inspired by his trips abroad. Ballads and Other Poems was published in 1841 and included "The Village Blacksmith" and "The Wreck of the Hesperus". His reputation as a poet, and a commercial one at that, was set. On May 10th, 1843, after seven years in pursuit of a chance for new love, Longfellow received word from Fanny Appleton that she agreed to marry him. On November 1st, 1847, the epic poem Evangeline was published. In 1854, Longfellow retired from Harvard, to devote himself entirely to writing. The Song of Haiwatha, perhaps his best known and enjoyed work was published in 1855. On July 10th, 1861, after suffering horrific burns the previous day. In his attempts to save her Longfellow had also been badly burned and was unable to attend her funeral. He spent several years translating Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It was published in 1867. Longfellow was also part of a group who became known as The Fireside Poets which also included William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Snr. Longfellow was the most popular poet of his day. As a friend once wrote to him, "no other poet was so fully recognized in his lifetime". Some of his works including "Paul Revere's Ride" and “The Song of Haiwatha” may have rewritten the facts but became essential parts of the American psyche and culture. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died, surrounded by family, on Friday, March 24th, 1882. He had been suffering from peritonitis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portable Poetry
• Release date: Feb 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787370791

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an American poet. Born in Portland, Maine, Longfellow excelled in reading and writing from a young age, becoming fluent in Latin as an adolescent and publishing his first poem at the age of thirteen. In 1822, Longfellow enrolled at Bowdoin College, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne and published poems and stories in local magazines and newspapers. Graduating in 1825, Longfellow was offered a position at Bowdoin as a professor of modern languages before embarking on a journey throughout Europe. He returned home in 1829 to begin teaching and working as the college’s librarian. During this time, he began working as a translator of French, Italian, and Spanish textbooks, eventually publishing a translation of Jorge Manrique, a major Castilian poet of the fifteenth century. In 1836, after a period abroad and the death of his wife Mary, Longfellow accepted a professorship at Harvard, where he taught modern languages while writing the poems that would become Voices of the Night (1839), his debut collection. That same year, Longfellow published Hyperion: A Romance, a novel based partly on his travels and the loss of his wife. In 1843, following a prolonged courtship, Longfellow married Fanny Appleton, with whom he would have six children. That decade proved fortuitous for Longfellow’s life and career, which blossomed with the publication of Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847), an epic poem that earned him a reputation as one of America’s leading writers and allowed him to develop the style that would flourish in The Song of Hiawatha (1855). But tragedy would find him once more. In 1861, an accident led to the death of Fanny and plunged Longfellow into a terrible depression. Although unable to write original poetry for several years after her passing, he began work on the first American translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy and increased his public support of abolitionism. Both steeped in tradition and immensely popular, Longfellow’s poetry continues to be read and revered around the world.

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The Golden Legend by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27th, 1807 in Portland, Maine.  As a young boy, it was obvious that he was very studious and he quickly became fluent in Latin.

He published his first poem, The Battle of Lovell's Pond, in the Portland Gazette on November 17th, 1820. He was already thinking of a career in literature and, in his senior year, wrote to his father: I will not disguise it in the least... the fact is, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature, my whole soul burns most ardently after it, and every earthly thought centers in it....

After graduation travels in Europe occupied the next three years and he seemed to easily absorb any language he set himself to learn.

On September 14th, 1831, Longfellow married Mary Storer Potter. They settled in Brunswick.

His first published book was in 1833, a translation of poems by the Spanish poet Jorge Manrique. He also published a travel book, Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea.

During a trip to Europe Mary became pregnant. Sadly, in October 1835, she miscarried at some six months. After weeks of illness she died, at the age of 22 on November 29th, 1835. Longfellow wrote One thought occupies me night and day... She is dead — She is dead! All day I am weary and sad.

In late 1839, Longfellow published Hyperion, a book in prose inspired by his trips abroad.

Ballads and Other Poems was published in 1841 and included The Village Blacksmith and The Wreck of the Hesperus.  His reputation as a poet, and a commercial one at that, was set.

On May 10th, 1843, after seven years in pursuit of a chance for new love, Longfellow received word from Fanny Appleton that she agreed to marry him.

On November 1st, 1847, the epic poem Evangeline was published.

In 1854, Longfellow retired from Harvard, to devote himself entirely to writing.

The Song of Haiwatha, perhaps his best known and enjoyed work was published in 1855.

On July 10th, 1861, after suffering horrific burns the previous day. In his attempts to save her Longfellow had also been badly burned and was unable to attend her funeral.

He spent several years translating Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It was published in 1867.

Longfellow was also part of a group who became known as The Fireside Poets which also included William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Snr. 

Longfellow was the most popular poet of his day. As a friend once wrote to him, no other poet was so fully recognized in his lifetime. Some of his works including Paul Revere's Ride and The Song of Haiwatha may have rewritten the facts but became essential parts of the American psyche and culture.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died, surrounded by family, on Friday, March 24th, 1882. He had been suffering from peritonitis.

Index of Contents

THE GOLDEN LEGEND.

Prologue:  The Spire of Strasburg Cathedral

I - The Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine

Courtyard of the Castle

II - A Farm in the Odenwald

A Room in the Farmhouse

Elsie's Chamber

The Chamber of Gottlieb and Ursula

A Village Church

A Room in the Farmhouse

In the Garden

III - A Street in Strasburg

Square in Front of the Cathedral

In the Cathedral

The Nativity: A Miracle-Play

Introitus

I - Heaven

II - Mary at the Well

III - The Angels of the Seven Planets

IV - The Wise Men of the East

V - The Flight into Egypt

VI - The Slaughter of the Innocents

VII - Jesus at Play with his Schoolmates

VIII - The Village School

IX - Crowned with Flowers

Epilogue

IV - The Road to Hirschau

The Convent of Hirschau in the Black Forest

The Scriptorium

The Cloisters

The Chapel

The Refectory

The Neighboring Nunnery

V - A Covered Bridge at Lucerne

The Devil's Bridge

The St. Gothard Pass

At the Foot of the Alps

The Inn at Genoa

At Sea

VI - The School of Salerno

The Farm-house in the Odenwald

The Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine

Epilogue. The Two Recording Angels Ascending

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

PROLOGUE

THE SPIRE OF STRASBURG CATHEDRAL.

Night and storm. LUCIFER, with the Powers of the Air, trying to tear down the Cross.

LUCIFER

Hasten! hasten!

O ye spirits!

From its station drag the ponderous

Cross of iron, that to mock us

Is uplifted high in air!

VOICES

O, we cannot!

For around it

All the Saints and Guardian Angels

Throng in legions to protect it;

They defeat us everywhere!

The Bells. Laudo Deum verum

Plebem voco!

Congrego clerum!

LUCIFER

Lower! lower!

Hover downward!

Seize the loud, vociferous bells, and

Clashing, clanging, to the pavement

Hurl them from their windy tower!

VOICES

All thy thunders

Here are harmless!

For these bells have been anointed,

And baptized with holy water!

They defy our utmost power.

The Bells. Defunctos ploro!

Pestem fugo!

Festa decoro!

LUCIFER

Shake the casements!

Break the painted

Panes that flame with gold and crimson!

Scatter them like leaves of Autumn,

Swept away before the blast!

VOICES

O, we cannot!

The Archangel

Michael flames from every window,

With the sword of fire that drove us

Headlong, out of heaven, aghast!

The Bells. Funera plango!

Fulgora frango!

Sabbata pango!

LUCIFER

Aim your lightnings

At the oaken,

Massive, iron-studded portals!

Sack the house of God, and scatter

Wide the ashes of the dead!

VOICES

O, we cannot!

The Apostles

And the Martyrs, wrapped in mantles,

Stand as wardens at the entrance,

Stand as sentinels o'erhead!

The Bells. Excito lentos!

Dissipo ventos!

Paco cruentos!

LUCIFER

Baffled! baffled!

Inefficient,

Craven spirits! leave this labor

Unto Time, the great Destroyer!

Come away, ere night is gone!

VOICES

Onward! onward!

With the night-wind,

Over field and farm and forest,

Lonely homestead, darksome hamlet,

Blighting all we breathe upon!

[They sweep away. Organ and Gregorian Chant.

CHOIR

Nocte surgentes

Vig lemus omnes!

I.

THE CASTLE OF VAUTSBERG ON THE RHINE.

A chamber in a tower. PRINCE HENRY, sitting alone, ill and restless.

PRINCE HENRY

I cannot sleep! my fervid brain

Calls up the vanished Past again,

And throws its misty splendors deep

Into the pallid realms of sleep!

A breath from that far-distant shore

Comes freshening ever more and more,

And wafts o'er intervening seas

Sweet odors from the Hesperides!

A wind, that through the corridor

Just stirs the curtain, and no more,

And, touching the aeolian strings,

Faints with the burden that it brings!

Come back! ye friendships long departed!

That like o'erflowing streamlets started,

And now are dwindled, one by one,

To stony channels in the sun!

Come back! ye friends, whose lives are ended!

Come back, with all that light attended,

Which seemed to darken and decay

When ye arose and went away!

They come, the shapes of joy and woe,

The airy crowds of long-ago,

The dreams and fancies known of yore,

That have been, and shall be no more.

They change the cloisters of the night

Into a garden of delight;

They make the dark and dreary hours

Open and blossom into flowers!

I would not sleep! I love to be

Again in their fair company;

But ere my lips can bid them stay,

They pass and vanish quite away!

Alas! our memories may retrace

Each circumstance of time and place,

Season and scene come back again,

And outward things unchanged remain;

The rest we cannot reinstate;

Ourselves we cannot re-create,

Nor set our souls to the same key

Of the remembered harmony!

Rest! rest! O, give me rest and peace!

The thought of life that ne'er shall cease

Has something in it like despair,

A weight I am too weak to bear!

Sweeter to this afflicted breast

The thought of never-ending rest!

Sweeter the undisturbed and deep

Tranquillity of endless sleep!

[A flash of lightning, out of which LUCIFER appears, in the garb of a travelling Physician.

LUCIFER

All hail Prince Henry!

Prince Henry (starting). Who is it speaks?

Who and what are you?

LUCIFER

One who seeks

A moment's audience with the Prince.

PRINCE HENRY

When came you in?

LUCIFER

A moment since.

I found your study door unlocked,

And thought you answered when I knocked.

PRINCE HENRY

I did not hear you.

LUCIFER

You heard the thunder;

It was loud enough to waken the dead.

And it is not a matter of special wonder

That, when God is walking overhead,

You should not have heard my feeble tread.

PRINCE HENRY

What may your wish or purpose be?

LUCIFER

Nothing or everything, as it pleases

Your Highness. You behold in me

Only a traveling Physician;

One of the few who have a mission

To cure incurable diseases,

Or those that are called so.

PRINCE HENRY

Can you bring

The dead to life?

LUCIFER

Yes; very nearly.

And, what is a wiser and better thing,

Can keep the living from ever needing

Such an unnatural, strange proceeding,

By showing conclusively and clearly

That death is a stupid blunder merely,

And not a necessity of our lives.

My being here is accidental;

The storm, that against your casement drives,

In the little village below waylaid me.

And there I heard, with a secret delight,

Of your maladies physical and mental,

Which neither astonished nor dismayed me.

And I hastened hither, though late in the night,

To proffer my aid!

PRINCE HENRY [Ironically]

For this you came!