The Wind over the Chimney
Lingering beside a dying fire after midnight, the speaker hears the flames urge ambition and praise poets, while the snowy night-wind denies that their works endure. As the flame sinks, the speaker answers that endeavor earns its reward in the doing, even for those who fail.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Meditative Poetry · 544 words
First lines
See, the fire is sinking low, / Dusky red the embers glow, / While above them still I cower, / While a moment more I linger, / Though the clock, with lifted finger, / Points beyond the midnight hour.
Sings the blackened log a tune / Learned in some forgotten June / From a school-boy at his play, / When they both were young together, / Heart of youth and summer weather / Making all their holiday.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Ten rhymed stanzas present a speaker's midnight thoughts through the imagined voices of flames and wind.
- Meditative Poetry — The speaker weighs poetic ambition against fleeting renown, then locates endeavor’s reward in pursuing it.
Tags
night-wind · hearth fire · poetic ambition · literary fame · perseverance
What this Textopian page supports
The Wind over the Chimney 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: Lyric Poetry, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 544 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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