The Three Silences of Molinos
A Spanish monk seeks a perfect silence uniting the silences of speech, desire, and thought, in which he sometimes hears mysterious sounds. The speaker addresses Whittier as the hermit of Amesbury, crediting him with hearing voices beyond the gates and speaking only when his soul is stirred.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Mystical Poetry · 175 words
First lines
To John Greenleaf Whittier
Three Silences there are: the first of speech, / The second of desire, the third of thought; / This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught / With dreams and visions, was the first to teach. / These Silences, commingling each with each, / Made up the perfect Silence, that he sought / And prayed for, and wherein at times he caught / Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach. / O thou, whose daily life anticipates / The life to come, and in whose thought and word / The spiritual world preponderates. / Hermit of Amesbury! thou too hast heard / Voices and melodies from beyond the gates, / And speakest only when thy soul is stirred!
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The Three Silences of Molinos 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: Sonnet, Mystical Poetry
- Length: 175 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Three Silences of Molinos by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines move from an octave describing the monk's three silences to a sestet addressing Whittier.
- Mystical Poetry — The monk prays for perfect silence and hears sounds from inaccessible realms; the speaker attributes similar spiritual hearing to Whittier.
Tags
silence · spiritual contemplation · desire · thought · mystical hearing · sonnets