The Children's Hour
At dusk, Alice, Allegra, and Edith descend the stairs and surprise an older speaker in the study. They climb over the speaker's chair, embrace the speaker, and give kisses; answering their playful raid, the speaker imagines keeping them forever in a fortress within the heart.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Narrative Poetry · 378 words
First lines
Between the dark and the daylight, / When the night is beginning to lower, / Comes a pause in the day's occupations, / That is known as the Children's Hour.
I hear in the chamber above me / The patter of little feet, / The sound of a door that is opened, / And voices soft and sweet.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The first-person speaker describes an affectionate evening encounter in rhymed quatrains and ends by imagining the children held forever within the heart.
- Narrative Poetry — The verses follow the children's descent, planned surprise, rush into the study, and affectionate capture of the seated speaker.
Tags
children · evening · play · affection · poetry
What this Textopian page supports
The Children's Hour 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, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 378 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Children's Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph