Milton by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Walking along a sunlit beach, the speaker watches swelling waves break and flood the sand. The speaker compares their rise and fall, especially the gathering ninth wave, to the cadence and emotional force of Milton’s poetry.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Literary Tribute · 154 words
First lines
I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold / How the voluminous billows roll and run, / Upheaving and subsiding, while the sun / Shines through their sheeted emerald far unrolled, / And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold / All its loose-flowing garments into one, / Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun / Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold. / So in majestic cadence rise and fall / The mighty undulations of thy song, / O sightless bard, England's Maeonides! / And ever and anon, high over all / Uplifted, a ninth wave superb and strong, / Floods all the soul with its melodious seas.
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from an eight-line account of breaking waves to a six-line comparison with the addressed poet’s song.
- Literary Tribute — The speaker addresses Milton as a sightless bard and likens the force of his poetry to a powerful wave.
Tags
sonnets · ocean waves · seashore · poetic cadence · literary tribute
What this Textopian page supports
Milton 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: Sonnet, Literary Tribute
- Length: 154 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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