Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The speaker compares flowers to earthly stars, finding God's love in them and linking their growth and decay to human hopes and desires. Flowers across seasons and places, including those carved on tombs, reveal kinship with human life; their opening buds become emblems of resurrection.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Nature Poetry, Religious Poetry, Meditative Poetry · 636 words
First lines
Spake full well, in language quaint and olden, / One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, / When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, / Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine.
Stars they are, wherein we read our history, / As astrologers and seers of eld; / Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery, / Like the burning stars, which they beheld.
What this Textopian page supports
Flowers 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: Nature Poetry, Religious Poetry, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 636 words
- Structure: 1 section, 15 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Nature Poetry — The stanzas describe blossoms, leaves, and buds across seasons, meadows, mountains, and woodland pools.
- Religious Poetry — Flowers reveal God's love, and their opening buds represent resurrection and a better land.
- Meditative Poetry — The speaker reflects on the shared powers underlying flowers and human hopes, desires, and wishes.
Tags
blossoms · seasons · divine love · human hopes · resurrection