Maidenhood by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A speaker addresses a maiden between childhood and womanhood, comparing her hesitation to standing where a brook meets a river. Warning of care and aging, the speaker urges her to preserve youthful feeling and truthfulness and bring comfort to sorrowful hearts.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Didactic Poetry · 433 words
First lines
Maiden! with the meek, brown eyes, / In whose orbs a shadow lies / Like the dusk in evening skies!
Thou whose locks outshine the sun, / Golden tresses, wreathed in one, / As the braided streamlets run!
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Rhymed three-line stanzas sustain a direct address to a maiden hesitating between childhood and womanhood.
- Didactic Poetry — The speaker warns that life contains snares and urges the maiden to preserve youthfulness and truth through sorrow.
Tags
girlhood · growing up · youth · aging · compassion · truthfulness
What this Textopian page supports
Maidenhood 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, Didactic Poetry
- Length: 433 words
- Structure: 1 section, 16 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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