The Bridge of Cloud
Beside an evening hearth, the speaker imagines Fancy building bridges across dark ravines and follows receding footsteps, only to grasp rain. Looking through mist toward a familiar but forbidden land, the speaker recalls friendly faces and casts a thought and an Alpine flower into the darkness.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Meditative Poetry · 361 words
First lines
Burn, O evening hearth, and waken / Pleasant visions, as of old! / Though the house by winds be shaken, / Safe I keep this room of gold!
Ah, no longer wizard Fancy / Builds her castles in the air, / Luring me by necromancy / Up the never-ending stair!
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Ten rhymed stanzas convey a speaker's longing through imagined bridges, elusive footsteps, and remembered friendly faces.
- Meditative Poetry — The speaker reflects on Fancy's changed visions and contemplates a familiar land obscured by mist.
Tags
imagination · memory · longing · evening hearth · mist
What this Textopian page supports
The Bridge of Cloud 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, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 361 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Bridge of Cloud by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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