Explore "To William E. Channing" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
[The following poems, with one exception, were written at sea, in the latter part of October, 1842. I had not then heard of Dr. Channing's death. Since that event, the poem addressed to him is no longer appropriate. I have decided, however, to let it remain as it was written, in testimony of my admiration for a great and good man.]
The pages of thy book I read, / And as I closed each one, / My heart, responding, ever said, / "Servant of God! well done!"
Well done! Thy words are great and bold; / At times they seem to me, / Like Luther's, in the days of old, / Half-battles for the free.
Go on, until this land revokes / The old and chartered Lie, / The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes / Insult humanity.
A voice is ever at thy side / Speaking in tones of might, / Like the prophetic voice, that cried / To John in Patmos, "Write!"
Write! and tell out this bloody tale; / Record this dire eclipse, / This Day of Wrath, this Endless Wail, / This dread Apocalypse!