The Old Clock on the Stairs
An old clock on the stairs of a country house sounds through hospitality, children's games, a wedding, and mourning. With the household now scattered by marriage and death, the speaker asks when everyone will meet again and answers that reunion belongs to eternity, where parting and death disappear.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Meditative Poetry, Elegiac Poetry · 736 words
First lines
L'eternite est une pendule, dont le balancier dit et redit sans cesse ces deux mots seulement dans le silence des tombeaux: "Toujours! jamais! Jamais! toujours! " -- JACQUES BRIDAINE.
Somewhat back from the village street / Stands the old-fashioned country-seat. / Across its antique portico / Tall poplar-trees their shadows throw; / And from its station in the hall / An ancient timepiece says to all, -- / "Forever -- never! / Never -- forever!"
Genres
- Meditative Poetry — The clock's repeated refrain connects changing household life with the closing reflection on eternity beyond death and time.
- Elegiac Poetry — The speaker painfully recalls the household's departed company, including the dead, and asks when they will meet again.
Tags
clocks · household memories · mortality · reunion · eternity
What this Textopian page supports
The Old Clock on the Stairs 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: Meditative Poetry, Elegiac Poetry
- Length: 736 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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