Wapentake by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Addressing Alfred Tennyson, the speaker imagines touching lances as a gesture of homage rather than a challenge. The speaker declares admiration for Tennyson's verse and offers love and allegiance in recognition of his devotion to poetry.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Literary Tribute · 163 words
First lines
To Alfred Tennyson
Poet! I come to touch thy lance with mine; / Not as a knight, who on the listed field / Of tourney touched his adversary's shield / In token of defiance, but in sign / Of homage to the mastery, which is thine, / In English song; nor will I keep concealed, / And voiceless as a rivulet frost-congealed, / My admiration for thy verse divine. / Not of the howling dervishes of song, / Who craze the brain with their delirious dance, / Art thou, O sweet historian of the heart! / Therefore to thee the laurel-leaves belong, / To thee our love and our allegiance, / For thy allegiance to the poet's art.
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines move from a figurative knightly salute to a declaration of allegiance to the addressee's poetic art.
- Literary Tribute — The speaker addresses Tennyson directly, declares admiration for his verse, and offers him homage.
Tags
sonnet · poetic homage · chivalric imagery · English verse · devotion to art
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Wapentake 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, Literary Tribute
- Length: 163 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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