Elegiac by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In a misty harbor, the speaker watches ships sail away and follows them in thought toward distant islands and shores. As the ships disappear, the unsatisfied longings fade, and the speaker pictures the heart resting at anchor, held by love and trust.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Meditative Poetry · 234 words
First lines
Dark is the morning with mist; in the narrow mouth of the harbor / Motionless lies the sea, under its curtain of cloud; / Dreamily glimmer the sails of ships on the distant horizon, / Like to the towers of a town, built on the verge of the sea.
Slowly and stately and still, they sail forth into the ocean; / With them sail my thoughts over the limitless deep, / Farther and farther away, borne on by unsatisfied longings, / Unto Hesperian isles, unto Ausonian shores.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The first-person speaker links departing ships to personal longings and a heart held by love and trust.
- Meditative Poetry — Watching ships disappear leads the speaker from thoughts of distant shores to an inward sense of rest.
Tags
sea · harbors · ships · longing · love · trust
What this Textopian page supports
Elegiac 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, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 234 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for Elegiac by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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