The Brook by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A speaker praises a brook’s springtime vitality and values its clear current above gold and silver. The speaker admires its visible pebbles and gentle murmur, then invokes the simplicity of days gone by.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Nature Poetry, Sonnet · 199 words
First lines
(A Un Arroyuelo)
Anonymous
Laugh of the mountain! -- lyre of bird and tree! / Pomp of the meadow! mirror of the morn! / The soul of April, unto whom are born / The rose and jessamine, leaps wild in thee! / Although, where'er thy devious current strays, / The lap of earth with gold and silver teems, / To me thy clear proceeding brighter seems / Than golden sands, that charm each shepherd's gaze. / How without guile thy bosom, all transparent / As the pure crystal, lets the curious eye / Thy secrets scan, thy smooth, round pebbles count! / How, without malice murmuring, glides thy current! / O sweet simplicity of days gone by! / Thou shun'st the haunts of man, to dwell in limpid fount!
Genres
- Nature Poetry — The speaker addresses a brook through descriptions of its current, transparent water, pebbles, and surrounding spring flowers.
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines move from praise of the brook’s vitality and clarity to a closing association with the simplicity of past days.
Tags
streams · spring · clear water · simplicity · sonnet
What this Textopian page supports
The Brook 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: Nature Poetry, Sonnet
- Length: 199 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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