Prometheus, or the Poet's Forethought
The speaker recounts Prometheus's theft of divine fire and punishment, then makes his ordeal a symbol of poets, prophets, and seers who suffer while making nations freer. Citing Dante, Milton, and Cervantes, the speaker sets affliction against the joy of creation and ends with bards carrying their light onward.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Allegorical Poetry, Metapoetry, Mythological Poetry · 571 words
First lines
Of Prometheus, how undaunted / On Olympus' shining bastions / His audacious foot he planted, / Myths are told and songs are chanted, / Full of promptings and suggestions.
Beautiful is the tradition / Of that flight through heavenly portals, / The old classic superstition / Of the theft and the transmission / Of the fire of the Immortals!
Genres
- Allegorical Poetry — The speaker explicitly interprets the stolen fire and subsequent torment as symbols of poetic inspiration and suffering.
- Metapoetry — The stanzas consider poets' creative rapture, affliction, and work of carrying inspiration to others.
- Mythological Poetry — The theft of immortal fire, Olympus, and the vulture on Caucasian crags provide the poem's central mythological comparison.
Tags
Greek mythology · poetic inspiration · artistic suffering · creativity
What this Textopian page supports
Prometheus, or the Poet's Forethought 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: Allegorical Poetry, Metapoetry, Mythological Poetry
- Length: 571 words
- Structure: 1 section, 13 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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