Endymion by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A moonlit landscape recalls Diana waking the sleeping Endymion with a kiss. The speaker compares freely given love to that unsolicited kiss and assures weary, desolate hearts that another heart, though unknown, responds to their own.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry · 334 words
First lines
The rising moon has hid the stars; / Her level rays, like golden bars, / Lie on the landscape green, / With shadows brown between.
And silver white the river gleams, / As if Diana, in her dreams, / Had dropt her silver bow / Upon the meadows low.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Nine rhymed stanzas move from a moonlit landscape to a direct address promising love to weary hearts.
- Love Poetry — Diana's unsolicited kiss becomes a comparison for love that gives itself freely and answers another heart.
Tags
moonlight · unbidden love · sleep · consolation · classical mythology
What this Textopian page supports
Endymion 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, Love Poetry
- Length: 334 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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