The Meeting by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
After a long absence, the speaker and companions reunite, exchanging warm greetings while privately noticing one another’s age. As they recall friends and think of those absent, the dead seem more present than the living, and sadness creeps into their jokes.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Elegiac Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 224 words
First lines
After so long an absence / At last we meet again: / Does the meeting give us pleasure, / Or does it give us pain?
The tree of life has been shaken, / And but few of us linger now, / Like the Prophet's two or three berries / In the top of the uppermost bough.
We cordially greet each other / In the old, familiar tone; / And we think, though we do not say it, / How old and gray he is grown!
We speak of a Merry Christmas / And many a Happy New Year / But each in his heart is thinking / Of those that are not here.
Genres
- Elegiac Poetry — The gathering turns toward absent friends and the dead, whose remembered presence brings sadness into the survivors’ conversation.
- Lyric Poetry — Six rhymed stanzas express the shared pleasure and pain of reunion through the speaker’s collective voice.
Tags
reunion · aging · departed friends · remembrance · grief
What this Textopian page supports
The Meeting 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: Elegiac Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 224 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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