Chrysaor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
At dusk, a speaker watches a single star above a sandy bar and its golden trail over the ocean. The gleam recalls Chrysaor rising from the sea and leaving Callirrhoe's arms, his sword shining across the water; the speaker wonders whether the nightly sight is a god or a star.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Mythological Poetry · 157 words
First lines
Just above yon sandy bar, / As the day grows fainter and dimmer, / Lonely and lovely, a single star / Lights the air with a dusky glimmer
Into the ocean faint and far / Falls the trail of its golden splendor, / And the gleam of that single star / Is ever refulgent, soft, and tender.
Chrysaor, rising out of the sea, / Showed thus glorious and thus emulous, / Leaving the arms of Callirrhoe, / Forever tender, soft, and tremulous.
Thus o'er the ocean faint and far / Trailed the gleam of his falchion brightly; / Is it a God, or is it a star / That, entranced, I gaze on nightly!
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Four rhymed stanzas culminate in the speaker's personal wonder at a star watched nightly.
- Mythological Poetry — The star's golden trail is compared to the shining sword of Chrysaor as he rises from the sea, leaving Callirrhoe's arms.
Tags
stars · dusk · ocean · mythology · swords
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Chrysaor 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, Mythological Poetry
- Length: 157 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for Chrysaor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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