In the Churchyard at Cambridge
A woman lies in a village churchyard with a slave buried at her head and another at her feet. The speaker asks whether vanity or Christian humility explains this arrangement, leaves the question unanswered, and warns that those seeking her faults hereafter will have their own sins to face.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Meditative Poetry, Religious Poetry · 247 words
First lines
In the village churchyard she lies, / Dust is in her beautiful eyes, / No more she breathes, nor feels, nor stirs; / At her feet and at her head / Lies a slave to attend the dead, / But their dust is white as hers.
Was she a lady of high degree, / So much in love with the vanity / And foolish pomp of this world of ours? / Or was it Christian charity, / And lowliness and humility, / The richest and rarest of all dowers?
Who shall tell us? No one speaks; / No color shoots into those cheeks, / Either of anger or of pride, / At the rude question we have asked; / Nor will the mystery be unmasked / By those who are sleeping at her side.
Genres
- Meditative Poetry — Four rhymed stanzas move from a burial arrangement to unanswered questions about the dead woman's motives and the questioners' own faults.
- Religious Poetry — The speaker considers Christian charity and humility, then invokes judgment hereafter and the reader's secret sins.
Tags
churchyards · burial · slavery · social rank · humility · sin · judgment
What this Textopian page supports
In the Churchyard at Cambridge 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: Meditative Poetry, Religious Poetry
- Length: 247 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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