Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ablaze

All ablaze with crimson and gold.

Aching

The aching heart, the aching head.

Acre

I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls The burial ground, God's acre.

Alarmed

The white pavilions rose and fell On the alarmed air.

Alternative

With no alternative but death.

Archly

Archly the maiden smiled.

Astride

Glasses with horn bows sat astride on his nose.

Attempt

Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose.

Aubade

The crowing cock . . . Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear.

Auroral

Her cheeks suffused with an auroral blush.

Basswood

All the bowls were made of basswood, White and polished very smoothly.

Beat

They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.

Befriend

By the darkness befriended.

Beleaguer

The wail of famine in beleaguered towns.

Benediction

Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her.

Besprent

The floor with tassels of fir was besprent.

Beware

Beware the awful avalanche.

Bleak

At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach.

Bleating

Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the seaside.

Blossom

Blossoms flaunting in the eye of day.

Bowl

Brought them food in bowls of basswood.

Breaker

The breakers were right beneath her bows.

Bright

The sun was bright o'erhead.

Brillancy

With many readers brilliancy of style passes for affluence of thought.

Brown

Cheeks brown as the oak leaves.

Buzz

Like a wasp is buzzed, and stung him.

Cachucha

The orchestra plays the cachucha.

Canoe

A birch canoe, with paddles, rising, falling, on the water.

Carol

I heard the bells on Christmans Day Their old, familiar carol play.

Centennial

That opened through long lines Of sacred ilex and centennial pines.

Chafe

Made its great boughs chafe together.

Chaplet

Her chaplet of beads and her missal.

Chatter

Your words are but idle and empty chatter.

Chillness

Death is the chillness that precedes the dawn.

Clamor

Clamored their piteous prayer incessantly.

Clatter

Clattering loud with iron clank.

Coil

You can see his flery serpents . . . Coiting, playing in the water.

Comfort

Speaking words of endearment where words of comfort availed not.

Constant

Onward the constant current sweeps.

Continuous

he can hear its continuous murmur.

Counterstand

Making counterstand to Robert Guiscard.

Courtesy

Pardon me, Messer Claudio, if once more I use the ancient courtesies of speech.

Craft

Since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations, Has the craft of the smith been held in repute.

Creaking

Start not at the creaking of the door.

Crusader

Azure-eyed and golden-haired, Forth the young crusaders fared.

Deaden

As harper lays his open palm Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations.

Defiant

In attitude stern and defiant.

Desert

Before her extended Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life.

Destine

Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end or way.

Destiny

Fame comes only when deserved, and then is as inevitable as destiny, for it is destiny.

Device

A banner with this strange device - Excelsior.

Diffident

The diffident maidens, Folding their hands in prayer.

Dike

Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised . . . Shut out the turbulent tides.

Disaster

But noble souls, through dust and heat, Rise from disaster and defeat The stronger.

Discordant

For still their music seemed to start Discordant echoes in each heart.

Discreet

The sea is silent, the sea is discreet.

Disjoint

Some half-ruined wall Disjointed and about to fall.

Dissonant

With clamor of voices dissonant and loud.

do

My brightest hopes giving dark fears a being. As the light does the shadow.

Downweigh

A different sin downweighs them to the bottom.

dresser

The pewter plates on the dresser Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine.

Drone

The monotonous drone of the wheel.

Dull

As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

Early

The forms of its earlier manhood.

Eld

Astrologers and men of eld.

Elysian

This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life elysian.

Embrasure

Apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure, Sat the lovers.

Emprise

The deeds of love and high emprise.

Equinox

When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Stormwind of the equinox.

Equipment

Armed and dight, In the equipments of a knight.

Equipoise

Our little lives are kept in equipoise By opposite attractions and desires.

Fateful

The fateful cawings of the crow.

Figuline

Whose figulines and rustic wares Scarce find him bread from day to day.

Filigrain

With her head . . . touches the crown of filigrane.

Flamelet

The flamelets gleamed and flickered.

Flurry

Like a flurry of snow on the whistling wind.

Freshet

Cracked the sky, as ice in rivers When the freshet is at highest.

Funereal

What seem to us but sad funereal tapers May be heaven's distant lamps.

Gigantic

When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Strom wind of the equinox.

Gleam

A glimmer, and then a gleam of light.

Gong

O'er distant deserts sounds the Tartar gong.

Grace

I shall answer and thank you again For the gift and the grace of the gift.

Harper

The murmuring pines and the hemlocks . . . Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.

Hatchet

Buried was the bloody hatchet.

Haunted

All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses.

Hearse

Who lies beneath this sculptured hearse.

Heather

Gorse and grass And heather, where his footsteps pass, The brighter seem.

Hemlock

The murmuring pines and the hemlocks.

Hexameter

Leaped like the | roe when he | hears in the | woodland the | voice of the | huntsman.

Hight

Entered then into the church the Reverend Teacher. Father he hight, and he was, in the parish.

Hippocrene

Nor maddening draughts of Hippocrene.

Hostelry

Come with me to the hostelry.

Impulsive

My heart, impulsive and wayward.

Infest

And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.

Inkhorn

From his pocket the notary drew his papers and inkhorn.

Intensify

How piercing is the sting of pride By want embittered and intensified.

Jangle

The musical jangle of sleigh bells.

Jargon

The noisy jay, Jargoning like a foreigner at his food.

Jester

Dressed in the motley garb that jesters wear.

Kirtle

Wearing her Norman car, and her kirtle of blue.

Kith

The sage of his kith and the hamlet.

Knarred

The knarred and crooked cedar knees.

Knee-deep

Where knee-deep the trees were standing.

Know

Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong.

Kraken

Like a kraken huge and black.

Lansquenet

[They play] their little game of lansquenet.

Lar

Looking backward in vain toward their Lares and lands.

Laughter

Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning with laughter.

Legible

The stone with moss and lichens so overspread, Nothing is legible but the name alone.

Life

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime.

Luminous

The mountains lift . . . their lofty and luminous heads.

Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the darkness.

Malediction

No malediction falls from his tongue.

Manito

Gitche Manito the mighty, The Great Spirit, the creator, Smiled upon his helpless children!

Mitche Manito the mighty, He the dreadful Spirit of Evil, As a serpent was depicted.

Martyrdom

I came from martyrdom unto this peace.

Mean

I am not a Spaniard To say that it is yours and not to mean it.

Mirage

By the mirage uplifted the land floats vague in the ether, Ships and the shadows of ships hang in the motionless air.

Multitude

A multitude of flowers As countless as the stars on high.

Must

No fermenting must fills . . . the deep vats.

Nevermore

Where springtime of the Hesperides Begins, but endeth nevermore.

Oarsman

At the prow of the boat, rose one of the oarsmen.

Oblivious

She lay in deep, oblivious slumber.

Ocean

Like the odor of brine from the ocean Comes the thought of other years.

Odin

There in the Temple, carved in wood, The image of great Odin stood.

Old-fashioned

This old-fashioned, quaint abode.

On

I stood on the bridge at midnight.

Over

Over them gleamed far off the crimson banners of morning.

Overwork

My days with toil are overwrought.

Page

Such was the book from whose pages she sang.

Paradise

It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise.

Parson

He hears the parson pray and preach.

Pass

“Try not the pass!” the old man said.

Past

The alarum of drums swept past.

Patriarch

The patriarch hoary, the sage of his kith and the hamlet.

Patter

[The hooded clouds] patter their doleful prayers.

Peal

And the whole air pealed With the cheers of our men.

Pemmican

Then on pemican they feasted.

Pendent

Often their tresses, when shaken, with pendent icicles tinkle.

Pipestem

Took a long reed for a pipestem.

Plash

Far below him plashed the waters.

Plaudit

Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng.

Ply

The heavy hammers and mallets plied.

Point-device

Thus he grew up, in logic point-devise, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice.

Poise

The slender, graceful spars Poise aloft in air.

Potter

The potter heard, and stopped his wheel.

Powwow

Be it sagamore, sachem, or powwow.

Prairie

From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the northland.

Prelude

[Music] preluding some great tragedy.

Pursue

The happiness of men lies in purswing, Not in possessing.

Pursuivant

The herald Hope, forerunning Fear, And Fear, the pursuivant of Hope.

Quail

The atheist power shall quail, and confess his fears. I. Taylor. Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter.

Quell

Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt.

Quicksand

Life hath quicksands, -- Life hath snares!

Right

Became the sovereign's favorite, his right hand.

Roadstead

Moored in the neighboring roadstead.

Ruin

By the fireside there are old men seated, Seeling ruined cities in the ashes.

Rune

Runes were upon his tongue, As on the warrior's sword.

Saga

And then the blue-eyed Norseman told A saga of the days of old.

Sandal

Sails of silk and ropes of sandal.

Sandaled

The measured footfalls of his sandaled feet.

Saturate

The sand beneath our feet is saturate With blood of martyrs.

Scud

Borne on the scud of the sea.

Sea tang

To their nests of sedge and sea tang.

Seal

Like a red seal is the setting sun On the good and the evil men have done.

Shade

The shades of night were falling fast.

Ship

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!

Shrive

Till my guilty soul be shriven.

Sideways

His beard, a good palm's length, at least, . . . Shot sideways, like a swallow's wings.

Sing

I heard them singing home the bride.

Slaver

The slaver's hand was on the latch, He seemed in haste to go.

Slip

A thin slip of a girl, like a new moon Sure to be rounded into beauty soon.

Sluggish

And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect.

Smithy

Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands.

Some

On its outer point, some miles away. The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry.

Something

Something attemped, something done, Has earned a night's repose.

Somewhat

Somewhat back from the village street.

Songcraft

A half-effaced inscription, Written with little skill of songcraft.

Sooth

In good sooth, Its mystery is love, its meaninng youth.

Spin

Round about him spun the landscape, Sky and forest reeled together.

Stall

Loud the monks sang in their stalls.

Stave

Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank.

Stay

I stay a little longer, as one stays To cover up the embers that still burn.

Stridulous

The Sarmatian boor driving his stridulous cart.

Sublime

Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong.

Survive

Alike are life and death, When life in death survives.

Susurrus

The soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.

Sweet

The breath of these flowers is sweet to me.

Swound

The landlord stirred As one awaking from a swound.

Task

Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close.

Tassel

And the maize field grew and ripened, Till it stood in all the splendor Of its garments green and yellow, Of its tassels and its plumage.

Tempestuous

They saw the Hebrew leader, Waiting, and clutching his tempestuous beard.

Tenebrous

The towering and tenebrous boughts of the cypress.

Teocalli

And Aztec priests upon their teocallis Beat the wild war-drums made of serpent's skin.

Terse

A poet, too, was there, whose verse Was tender, musical, and terse.

thank

Thanks, thanks to thee, most worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught.

Thyrsus

In my hand I bear The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.

Tidal

The tidal wave of deeper souls Into our inmost being rolls, And lifts us unawares Out of all meaner cares.

Titter

A group of tittering pages ran before.

To-day

On to-day Is worth for me a thousand yesterdays.

Topple

He topple crags from the precipice.

Torrent

The roaring torrent is deep and wide.

Totem

And they painted on the grave posts Of the graves, yet unforgotten, Each his own ancestral totem Each the symbol of his household; Figures of the bear and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver.

Tradition

Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pré.

Transition

There is no death, what seems so is transition.

Tristful

Eyes so tristful, eyes so tristful, Heart so full of care and cumber.

Up

Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate.

Vacant

There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, But has one vacant chair.

Vague

Some legend strange and vague.

Valve

Heavily closed, . . . the valves of the barn doors.

Vibration

As a harper lays his open palm Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations.

Victual

Short allowance of victual.

Viking

Of grim Vikings, and the rapture Of the sea fight, and the capture, And the life of slavery.

Vilipend

To vilipend the art of portrait painting.

Wain

Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to the seashore.

Wampum

Round his waist his belt of wampum.

Wan

With the wan moon overhead.

Warlock

It was Eyvind Kallda's crew Of warlocks blue, With their caps of darkness hooded!

Warm

Warm and still is the summer night.

Enough to warm, but not enough to burn.

Warning

That warning timepiece never ceased.

Wash

[The landscape] washed with a cold, gray mist.

Watch

In lazy mood I watched the little circles die.

Water

Men whose lives gilded on like rivers that water the woodlands.

Wattled

The wattled cocks strut to and fro.

Way

And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail.

When men lived in a grander way.

Weary

[I] am weary, thinking of your task.

Weather

For I can weather the roughest gale.

Weathercock

Noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation.

Wedding

Simple and brief was the wedding, as that of Ruth and of Boaz.

Weep

And they wept together in silence.

Weird

Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.

Werewolf

The brutes that wear our form and face, The werewolves of the human race.

What

We know what master laid thy keel, What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel.

Wheel

Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar A touch can make, a touch can mar.

Whiff

The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, And a scornful laugh laughed he.

While

I will go forth and breathe the air a while.

The lovely lady whiled the hours away.

White

White as the whitest lily on a stream.

Whoop

The whoop of the crane.

Wigwam

Very spacious was the wigwam, Made of deerskin dressed and whitened, With the gods of the Dacotahs Drawn and painted on its curtains.

Wind

Winds were soft, and woods were green.

Wing

Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours.

Worm

When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm, His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks.

Worship

In attitude and aspect formed to be At once the artist's worship and despair.

Was it for this I have loved . . . and worshiped in silence?

Ywis

Our ship, I wis, Shall be of another form than this.