Charles Sumner by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Mourning Charles Sumner, the speaker recalls a life of conflict and portrays him as opening a path for the oppressed. Reflections on unfinished lives lead to a comparison between a dead man's continuing influence and the lingering light of an extinguished star.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Elegy, Reflective Poetry · 298 words
First lines
Garlands upon his grave, / And flowers upon his hearse, / And to the tender heart and brave / The tribute of this verse.
His was the troubled life, / The conflict and the pain, / The grief, the bitterness of strife, / The honor without stain.
Like Winkelried, he took / Into his manly breast / The sheaf of hostile spears, and broke / A path for the oppressed.
Then from the fatal field / Upon a nation's heart / Borne like a warrior on his shield! -- / So should the brave depart.
Genres
- Elegy — The speaker offers a verse tribute to the dead man, recalls his suffering and efforts for the oppressed, and reflects on his enduring influence.
- Reflective Poetry — The rhymed quatrains consider lives interrupted by death and compare a dead person's continuing influence to light still arriving from an extinguished star.
Tags
mourning · death · remembrance · oppression · lasting influence · elegy
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Charles Sumner 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: Elegy, Reflective Poetry
- Length: 298 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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