Changed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Looking toward a wood from a town's outskirts, the speaker feels like a stranger. The oaks remain green, but former companions have become estranged over the years, and the still-bright sea and sun no longer seem as they once did.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Nostalgic Poetry · 140 words
First lines
From the outskirts of the town / Where of old the mile-stone stood. / Now a stranger, looking down / I behold the shadowy crown / Of the dark and haunted wood.
Is it changed, or am I changed? / Ah! the oaks are fresh and green, / But the friends with whom I ranged / Through their thickets are estranged / By the years that intervene.
Bright as ever flows the sea, / Bright as ever shines the sun, / But alas! they seem to me / Not the sun that used to be, / Not the tides that used to run.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Three rhymed stanzas present a speaker's personal response to familiar woods, estranged friends, and altered perceptions.
- Nostalgic Poetry — The speaker recalls roaming the thickets with friends and contrasts the remembered sun and tides with their present appearance.
Tags
estranged friendships · memory · passage of time · changed perception
What this Textopian page supports
Changed 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: Lyric Poetry, Nostalgic Poetry
- Length: 140 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
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