The Luck of Edenhall
At a drunken banquet, Edenhall's young lord strikes and shatters a crystal goblet said to preserve his family's luck. Flames break through the hall, an enemy storms in, and the lord is killed. The next morning, the old butler searches the ruins for his lord's remains and the goblet's shards, then predicts that the earth will one day shatter like the glass.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Ballad, Narrative Poetry · 593 words
First lines
By Johan Ludwig Uhland
OF Edenhall, the youthful Lord / Bids sound the festal trumpet's call; / He rises at the banquet board, / And cries, 'mid the drunken revellers all, / "Now bring me the Luck of Edenhall!"
Genres
- Ballad — Rhymed five-line stanzas, recurring references to the fateful goblet, and direct dialogue carry the story from drunken revelry to violent destruction.
- Narrative Poetry — The verses recount the lord's demand for the goblet, his testing it with a harder blow, its shattering, the enemy's attack, and the butler's search the following morning.
Tags
crystal goblet · supernatural warning · drunken revelry · enemy attack · ruined hall · earthly fragility
What this Textopian page supports
The Luck of Edenhall 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: Ballad, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 593 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Luck of Edenhall by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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