Parker Cleaveland by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Revisiting Brunswick in the summer of 1875, the speaker remembers Parker Cleaveland beside his funeral stone, recalling his quiet life among the pines and his teaching. Affectionate memories of his example lead to an affirmation of life beyond death.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Elegy · 188 words
First lines
Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875
Among the many lives that I have known, / None I remember more serene and sweet, / More rounded in itself and more complete, / Than his, who lies beneath this funeral stone. / These pines, that murmur in low monotone, / These walks frequented by scholastic feet, / Were all his world; but in this calm retreat / For him the Teacher's chair became a throne. / With fond affection memory loves to dwell / On the old days, when his example made / A pastime of the toil of tongue and pen; / And now, amid the groves he loved so well / That naught could lure him from their grateful shade, / He sleeps, but wakes elsewhere, for God hath said, Amen!
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from the teacher's life within a secluded scholarly setting to affectionate remembrance and a final affirmation of life beyond death.
- Elegy — The speaker stands beside a funeral stone, remembers the dead teacher's example, and closes with religious consolation.
Tags
remembrance · teaching · graves · afterlife · sonnet
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Parker Cleaveland is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Sonnet, Elegy
- Length: 188 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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