Cadenabbia by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Beside Lake Como, a speaker walks beneath plane-tree branches, sits on marble stairs by Somariva's garden gate, and watches barges and hillside towns. The speaker wonders whether the scene is a dream and asks it to linger until its beauty is fixed in memory.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Descriptive Poetry, Nature Poetry · 403 words
First lines
Lake of Como
No sound of wheels or hoof-beat breaks / The silence of the summer day, / As by the loveliest of all lakes / I while the idle hours away.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A first-person speaker moves from lakeside observations to a plea that the scene linger long enough to become a lasting mental image.
- Descriptive Poetry — Rhymed quatrains describe shaded paths, water lapping marble steps, reflected barges, wooded hills, and sunlit towns.
- Nature Poetry — Leaves stirred by air, shifting sunlight, lake water, and wooded slopes shape the speaker's summer walk.
Tags
summer · lakes · landscape · walking · memory
What this Textopian page supports
Cadenabbia is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Descriptive Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 403 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Cadenabbia by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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