Enceladus by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Enceladus lies beneath Mount Etna, alive but weighed down by crags and earth; his breath and movements send fire and ash over the surrounding land. Distant nations anticipate his rising, while the old gods fear the sounds of his unrest. The closing stanza calls on him to arise through the voice of the storm-wind.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Mythological Poetry, Allegorical Poetry · 325 words
First lines
Under Mount Etna he lies, / It is slumber, it is not death; / For he struggles at times to arise, / And above him the lurid skies / Are hot with his fiery breath.
The crags are piled on his breast, / The earth is heaped on his head; / But the groans of his wild unrest, / Though smothered and half suppressed, / Are heard, and he is not dead.
Genres
- Mythological Poetry — Rhymed stanzas portray Enceladus alive beneath Mount Etna, with fiery breath and movements that frighten the old gods.
- Allegorical Poetry — The buried figure's struggle to rise, the nations' anticipation and the gods explicitly described as oppressors support an allegory of resistance to domination.
Tags
mythology · giants · Mount Etna · volcanic eruptions · oppression · resistance
What this Textopian page supports
Enceladus 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: Mythological Poetry, Allegorical Poetry
- Length: 325 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Enceladus by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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