Keramos by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Watching a potter beneath a hawthorn tree, the narrator imagines a journey through the pottery workshops and ceramic treasures of Europe, Egypt, China, and Japan. The potter's recurring song compares clay vessels with human lives, while the narrator considers how art follows nature. At noon a church bell ends the reverie, and the potter stops his wheel.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Philosophical Poetry · 4,101 words
First lines
Turn, turn, my wheel? Turn round and round / Without a pause, without a sound: / So spins the flying world away! / This clay, well mixed with marl and sand, / Follows the motion of my hand; / Far some must follow, and some command, / Though all are made of clay!
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed verse follows an observer's imagined journey among pottery workshops and ceramic objects, framed by a potter working until noon.
- Philosophical Poetry — The potter's refrains connect clay with human kinship, aging, and mortality, while the narrator argues that artists should follow nature.
Tags
pottery · ceramics · craftsmanship · imagined travel · art and nature · mortality · human kinship
What this Textopian page supports
Keramos 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: Narrative Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 4,101 words
- Structure: 1 section, 31 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for Keramos by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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