Dante by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The speaker addresses Dante, contrasting his stern thoughts and formidable song with his compassion. At sunset, the speaker imagines him beside Fra Hilario at a convent, answering that he seeks peace.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Literary Tribute · 167 words
First lines
Tuscan, that wanderest through the realms of gloom, / With thoughtful pace, and sad, majestic eyes, / Stern thoughts and awful from thy soul arise, / Like Farinata from his fiery tomb. / Thy sacred song is like the trump of doom; / Yet in thy heart what human sympathies, / What soft compassion glows, as in the skies / The tender stars their clouded lamps relume! / Methinks I see thee stand, with pallid cheeks, / By Fra Hilario in his diocese, / As up the convent-walls, in golden streaks, / The ascending sunbeams mark the day's decrease; / And, as he asks what there the stranger seeks, / Thy voice along the cloister whispers, "Peace! "
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines move from an address contrasting sternness and compassion to an imagined convent encounter.
- Literary Tribute — The speaker addresses Dante through his song, contrasting its severity with his human sympathy.
Tags
sonnet · compassion · peace · convents · literary portrait
What this Textopian page supports
Dante 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, Literary Tribute
- Length: 167 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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