The Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face
Rain-in-the-Face demands revenge against the people of a yellow-haired white chief. Sitting Bull waits in ambush with three thousand warriors; the chief and his three hundred men perish, and Rain-in-the-Face flees carrying the chief’s heart as a trophy. The speaker closes by blaming the ruin on broken faith.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Ballad, War Poetry · 425 words
First lines
In that desolate land and lone, / Where the Big Horn and Yellowstone / Roar down their mountain path, / By their fires the Sioux Chiefs / Muttered their woes and griefs / And the menace of their wrath.
"Revenge! " cried Rain-in-the-Face, / "Revenue upon all the race / Of the White Chief with yellow hair! " / And the mountains dark and high / From their crags re-echoed the cry / Of his anger and despair.
Genres
- Ballad — Eight rhymed six-line stanzas tell a compact story of threatened revenge, ambush, death, and a grisly trophy.
- War Poetry — The verses recount a chief and his soldiers being overwhelmed in battle and end with a funeral appeal that blames broken faith.
Tags
revenge · ambush · Sioux · warfare · broken faith · battlefield deaths
What this Textopian page supports
The Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face 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, War Poetry
- Length: 425 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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