Three Friends of Mine
The speaker mourns three dead friends, recalling their conversation, one friend's delight in Greek antiquity, and another's understanding of nature. He returns to a familiar Atlantic shore, asks a river to embrace a buried friend who bore its name, and waits with his doors open near the Brighton meadows for companions who will never return.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Elegiac Poetry, Sonnet · 844 words
First lines
I
When I remember them, those friends of mine, / Who are no longer here, the noble three, / Who half my life were more than friends to me, / And whose discourse was like a generous wine, / I most of all remember the divine / Something, that shone in them, and made us see / The archetypal man, and what might be / The amplitude of Nature's first design. / In vain I stretch my hands to clasp their hands; / I cannot find them. Nothing now is left / But a majestic memory. They meanwhile / Wander together in Elysian lands, / Perchance remembering me, who am bereft / Of their dear presence, and, remembering, smile.
Genres
- Elegiac Poetry — The speaker mourns three dead friends, recalls their companionship, and addresses those whose presence he can no longer recover.
- Sonnet — Five fourteen-line poems use rhymed octaves and sestets to move from remembered companionship and familiar places to lament and farewell.
Tags
grief · friendship · remembrance · Greek antiquity · Atlantic coast · sonnets
What this Textopian page supports
Three Friends of Mine 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, Sonnet
- Length: 844 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Three Friends of Mine by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph