Poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
American poet · 1807–1882
A Psalm of LifeThe Arrow and the SongPaul Revere's Ride
Longfellow was the most famous poet of nineteenth-century America — so famous that his seventieth birthday was celebrated like a national holiday. Schoolchildren memorized "Paul Revere's Ride" and "The Song of Hiawatha" for a century.
"A Psalm of Life," his rallying cry against despair ("Life is real! Life is earnest!"), was for decades the best-known poem in the English-speaking world.
30 poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.
- A Psalm of LifeWHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST.…37 lines
- Afternoon in FebruaryThe day is ending,…24 lines
- An April DayWhen the warm sun, that brings…32 lines
- AutumnThou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain,…14 lines
- Autumn WithinIt is autumn; not without…12 lines
- ChildrenCome to me, O ye children!…36 lines
- Christmas Bells"I heard the bells on Christmas Day…35 lines
- Daylight and MoonlightIn broad daylight, and at noon,…20 lines
- FlowersSpake full well, in language quaint and olden,…60 lines
- Footsteps of AngelsWhen the hours of Day are numbered,…40 lines
- HolidaysThe holiest of all holidays are those…14 lines
- Loss And GainWhen I compare…12 lines
- MoonlightAs a pale phantom with a lamp…32 lines
- My Lost YouthOften I think of the beautiful town…90 lines
- NatureAs a fond mother, when the day is o'er,…14 lines
- Paul Revere's RideListen my children and you shall hear…130 lines
- Rain in SummerHow beautiful is the rain!…96 lines
- The Arsenal at SpringfieldThis is the Arsenal. From floor to ceiling,…48 lines
- The Children's HourBetween the dark and the daylight,…40 lines
- The Evening StarLo! in the painted oriel of the West,…14 lines
- The Goblet of LifeFilled is Life's goblet to the brim;…60 lines
- The Jewish Cemetery at NewportHow strange it seems! These Hebrews in their graves,…60 lines
- The Light of StarsThe night is come, but not too soon;…36 lines
- The Rainy DayThe day is cold, and dark, and dreary…15 lines
- The Reaper and the FlowersThere is a Reaper, whose name is Death,…28 lines
- The Revenge of Rain-in-the-FaceIn that desolate land and lone,…48 lines
- The Sound of the SeaThe sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,…14 lines
- Woods in WinterWhen winter winds are piercing chill,…28 lines
- The Arrow and the SongI shot an arrow into the air,…13 lines
- The Village BlacksmithUnder a spreading chestnut-tree…50 lines