Boston by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Addressing St. Botolph's Town, the speaker recalls a Saxon monk's founding of a priory later pillaged by Danes. The surviving name echoes in another hemisphere, while the town's tower and bells prompt a wish that the name remain a landmark and a symbol of the power of a word.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Historical Poetry · 161 words
First lines
St. Bototlph's Town! Hither across the plains / And fens of Lincolnshire, in garb austere, / There came a Saxon monk, and founded here / A Priory, pillaged by marauding Danes, / So that thereof no vestige now remains; / Only a name, that, spoken loud and clear, / And echoed in another hemisphere, / Survives the sculptured walls and painted panes. / St. Botolph's Town! Far over leagues of land / And leagues of sea looks forth its noble tower, / And far around the chiming bells are heard; / So may that sacred name forever stand / A landmark, and a symbol of the power, / That lies concentred in a single word.
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines move from the priory's destruction and surviving name to the tower, bells, and a concluding wish.
- Historical Poetry — The verse recalls a Saxon monk's foundation of a priory and its pillaging by Danes.
Tags
place names · Saxon monasteries · Danish raids · church towers · church bells · sonnet
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Boston is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Sonnet, Historical Poetry
- Length: 161 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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