The Grave by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A speaker addresses a person about burial, describing the grave as a low, cold, dark house whose key Death holds. Worms will consume the body, and no friend will open the grave or descend after them.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Poetry, Gothic Poetry · 326 words
First lines
For thee was a house built / Ere thou wast born, / For thee was a mould meant / Ere thou of mother camest. / But it is not made ready, / Nor its depth measured, / Nor is it seen / How long it shall be. / Now I bring thee / Where thou shalt be; / Now I shall measure thee, / And the mould afterwards.
Thy house is not / Highly timbered, / It is unhigh and low; / When thou art therein, / The heel-ways are low, / The side-ways unhigh. / The roof is built / Thy breast full nigh, / So thou shalt in mould / Dwell full cold, / Dimly and dark.
Genres
- Poetry — Four stanzas address a person directly through short verse lines, describing burial and bodily decay.
- Gothic Poetry — The grave becomes a dark, doorless house controlled by Death, where the body is confined and divided by worms.
Tags
burial · death · graves · bodily decay · worms
What this Textopian page supports
The Grave 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: Poetry, Gothic Poetry
- Length: 326 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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