Thanks, ChrisW, for posting this moving poem,
one of Longfellow's best. It takes a few lines
to get going, but from the Exodus of Death on,
most of it is terrific. I hope the new Library
of America volume helps to "rehabilitate" him
in the poetry world and the academy (although
it's the latter that need the rehabilitating). At
his best, in poems like The Rope-Walk, The
Warning, The Arsenal at Springfield, The
Fire of Drift-Wood, A Nameless Grave,
Eliot's Oak, The Cross of Snow etc. and
the translations,especially of Dante and of
Manrique's Coplas, he is one of our very
best poets.
Now, if only the Library of America would bring E. A.
Robinson's COLLECTED POEMS back into print.
[This message has been edited by robert mezey (edited July 12, 2001).]
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