In its vastness, Floats some fragment of a song: From the far-off isles enchanted, With the golden fruit of Truth; From the flashing surf, whose vision In the tropic clime of Youth; From the strong Will, and the Endeavor 1. In its earlier stanzas, this poem is for the common reader, the functions of the poet. The work appeared in Graham's Magazine for January, 1845, and again at the end of the year in The Belfry of Bruges. Wrestle with the tides of Fate; From the wreck of Hopes far-scattered, 40 1844 1845 Tempest-shattered, Floating waste and desolate; Ever drifting, drifting, drifting Currents of the restless heart; They, like hoarded Household words, no more depart. The Evening Star Lo! in the painted oriels of the West, Of all her radiant garments, and reclines With slumber and soft dreams of love oppressed. O my beloved, my sweet Hesperus!* My morning and my evening star of love! My best and gentlest lady! even thus, As that fair planet in the sky above, And from thy darkened window fades the light. The Old Clock on the Stairs 2. "October 30, 1845 *** Wrote the 3. Architectural term for a large bay window, here the western sky. 4. Hesperus was the Roman deity of the evening star, but in classical poetry sometimes the morning star also (cf. 1. 10). Identified with the planet Venus in modern astronomy. 5. The ancient homestead of the poem, in Pittsfield, was that of the grand 45 1845 S 10 [1845] 1846 parents of his second wife, whom Longfellow visited on his wedding journey in 1843. On beginning the composition (November 12, 1845), he noted in his diary the source of the refrain in a French passage (which we translate), by "Bridaine, the old French missionary, who said of eternity": It is a clock whose pendulum endlessly repeats only these two words in the silence of the tombs,-Forever, never! Never, forever! And amid these fearful reverberations the condemned cries out, "What is the hour?" and the voice of another outcast answers him, "Eternity." The poem was included in The Belfry of Bruges. Across its antique portico Tall poplar-trees their shadows throw; Never-forever!" Half-way up the stairs it stands, And points and beckons with its hands Like a monk, who, under his cloak, With sorrowful voice to all who pass,- Never-forever!" By day its voice is low and light; And seems to say, at each chamber-door,— Never-forever!" Through days of sorrow and of mirth, Of changeful time, unchanged it has stood, Never-forever!" In that mansion used to be Free-hearted Hospitality; His great fires up the chimney roared; The stranger feasted at his board; But, like the skeleton at the feast, That warning timepiece never ceased,"Forever-never! Never-forever!" 5 ΤΟ 15 20 25 30 35 40 There groups of merry children played, Even as a miser counts his gold, Those hours the ancient timepiece told, "Forever-never! Never-forever!" From that chamber, clothed in white, The bride came forth on her wedding night; The dead lay in his shroud of snow; And in the hush that followed the prayer, Was heard the old clock on the stair, "Forever-never! Never-forever!" All are scattered now and fled, And when I ask, with throbs of pain, Never-forever!" Never here, forever there, Where all parting, pain, and care, "Forever-never! Never-forever!" 1845 The Building of the Ship1 "Build me straight, O worthy Master! 1. In November, 1849, "The Building of the Ship" appeared as the "leading [1845] 1846 piece" in The Seaside and Fireside (dated 1850). It was at once recognized That shall laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!" The merchant's word Delighted the Master heard; For his heart was in his work, and the heart A quiet smile played round his lips, As the eddies and dimples of the tide And with a voice that was full of glee, A vessel as goodly, and strong, and stanch, That with a hand more swift and sure as relating to the national disunity that able to stir men like that.'" During |