The Village Blacksmith

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Under a spreading chestnut-tree ⁠The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands, And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. His hair is crisp, and black, and long; His face is like the tan; His brow is wet with……

Paul Revere’s Ride

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, It would be good to have each child learn a part of this poem and all recite it together. Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day……

The Acadian Village (excerpt from Evangeline)

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (This poem is long and difficult and may be learned as a class, each child memorizing a few lines.) In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas, Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pré Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward, Giving……

Autumn

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, With banners, by great gales incessant fanned, Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand, And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain! Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand Outstretched with benedictions o’er the land, Blessing the farms through all……

The Children’s Hour

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupations, That is known as the Children’s Hour. I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, And voices soft and……

Alcuin of York

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW When Alcuin taught the sons of Charlemagne, In the free schools of Aix, how kings should reign, And with them taught the children of the poor How subjects should be patient and endure, He touched the lips of some, as best befit, With honey from the hives of Holy Writ; Others……

Rain in Summer (excerpt)

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW How beautiful is the rain! After the dust and heat, In the broad and fiery street, In the narrow lane, How beautiful is the rain! How it clatters along the roofs, Like the tramp of hoofs How it gushes and struggles out From the throat of the overflowing spout! Across the……

My Cathedral

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Like two cathedral towers these stately pines Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones; The arch beneath them is not built with stones, Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines, And carved this graceful arabesque of vines; No organ but the wind here sighs and moans, No sepulchre conceals a……

A Wraith In The Mist

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Sir, I should build me a fortification if I came to live here.– Boswell’s Johnson. On the green little isle of Inchkenneth Who is it that walks by the shore, So gay with his Highland blue bonnet, So brave with his targe and claymore? His form is the form of a……

Two Good Friends Had Hiawatha (excerpt from The Song of Hiawatha, ch. VI)

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Two good friends had Hiawatha, Singled out from all the others, Bound to him in closest union, And to whom he gave the right hand Of his heart, in joy and sorrow; Chibiabos, the musician, And the very strong man, Kwasind. Straight between them ran the pathway, Never grew the grass……