The Reaper and the Flowers

While Longfellow wrote a Psalm about life, he also wrote the opposite: The Psalm of Death or mostly known as The Reaper and the Flowers. We humans don’t expect the unexpected and everything is not what it seems. Out of the four poems I choose to write about, this was my favorite. I had some mixed reactions to this poem. The Reaper and the flowers is mainly about death but we shouldn’t really be afraid. We have to let go at some point. When I first read the poem, I depict death as the fearful grim reaper that carries a sickle (“with his sickle keen, he reaps the bearded grain.”) and snatches the innocent lives of the flower. Halfway through the poem, I see death show emotions and regret when taking their lives. (“He gazed at the flower with tearful eyes, he kissed their drooping lips.”) In the end of the poem, The Reaper was actually an angel sent from heaven to take care of the child and seat him with the lord. The mother eventually will get to see her children in the future.

The irony in the poem plays a major role in the tone and development of theme. At first, the tone was sad and depressing. The reaper has come to take your child away. There is fear and uncertainty. Then the author goes on to tell you that it was really an angel who came to protect and bring the child to a much better place. The tone then switches to assurance and delight. It’s like going on a rollercoaster or a haunted house ride for the first time. You are nervous and scared but after the ride, you are glad that it’s done and can get it over with. It’s a part of letting go your loved ones for the better. This poem can be related to the subject of euthanasia. We question whether it’s ok to let go of our loved ones or have them keep suffering forever. The theme of this poem is that all things are not what it seems. Death is merciless. But behind the dark appearance is someone who expresses care and mercy. There is a whole different side to death, it brings light and heaven. Don’t judge by appearance or expectation.

A Hymn to the Night

Another poem that I decide to include in my paper is A Hymn To The Night by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. What caught my eye is that this poem has a similar theme to the previous poem that it did. It emphasizes the beauty of nature and night by comparing it to a gorgeous lover. The poem’s main purpose revolves around the major technique the author uses: Personification and metaphor. Longfellow is comparing the majestic presence of night to a lover and giving it human qualities such as wearing “trailing garments” and “sable skirts”. The theme of this poem is darkness isn’t what is seems. Many people view darkness as negative and fear, but the truth is that we don’t always look beyond what is given. The night can be a peaceful time when the soul rest and we have to admire the beauty within the dark. Darkness is the lover or someone who loves after us and provides us with peace and tranquility.

       This poem is taking more of a romantic approach to nature and the darkness. The tone in this poem is interrelated with the paradox. It is dark and cynical yet delightful and has a positive feeling. It’s like enjoying a short hike through the woods on a warm spring night compared to walking through a dark and windy path through a graveyard at night. You get a more positive feeling instead of focusing on the negative side. That is what the author is trying to convey. These lines “sounds of sorrow and delight that fills that haunted chambers of night” are related to the paradox. It seems contradictory but works well with the atmosphere and tone the author creates to give the readers a sense of peace and beauty the night provides.

       This poem reminds me of Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…” In sonnet 18, Shakespeare is demonstrating his love towards his lover by comparing her to the warm summer day and its charming sunshine. Longfellow and Shakespeare are two great poets who admire nature the same way as their lover.

Nature of Longfellow's poems

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poems mainly focus on the concept of the human cycle, our role in nature, and Death. In his poem Nature, he expresses death as a more blissful state. It is more positive and he uses the relationship between a mother and child as a metaphor to show our relationship with nature. Mother Nature nurtures us, takes care of us, and when the time comes, she strips away our earthly distractions to prepare us for the inevitable. The image of death in this poem is putting a cranky child to bed. We don’t want to go but there’s not much we can do. “Nature takes away our playthings one by one, and by the hand leads us to rest so gently.” It should be peaceful and happy, like going to bed after a long day of work to relive all the stress and pain from this world.

Longfellow also takes a different approach on death as he is reminiscing about his early life as a child and his curiosity. In his poem The tide rises, the tide falls, he creates more of a somber atmosphere in the first two lines. Darkness and sea are being used twice and personified. The symbolism and image that showed up in his previous poem A Psalm of Life, Footprints on the sands of time, reappears again in this poem, but in a more darker and sad tone. In his first poem, we need to make a footprint in the sands so we can be remembered forever and our life’s work isn’t in vain. In the poem The tide rises, the tide falls, the traveler is the man. Our footprints are washed away by the waves of the ocean which symbolizes that our impression will not be long lasting and we may be forgotten when we die. Man can never overcome Nature and its vast power. The traveler never returns and yet the waves still continues. Although the author doesn’t directly state death occurs, it is implied when the traveler didn’t return and he is forgotten.  Man dies, but the cycle of nature and life resumes even if you are not around to see it.

Longfellow and A Psalm of Life

For this quarter’s AP English Literature, I had to make a pretty tough decision on which poets I have to write about. It was a tie between Ralph Waldo Emerson and his transcendental approach to poetry and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his optimistic view on nature. Both were great poets but I ended up choosing Longfellow. His view on the nature and human life is straight forward and positive. Whereas, Emerson focus more on the complexity of transcendentalism and his poems are a lot harder to interpret.

       I had previous knowledge about Longfellow and the first couple of things that came to my mind are his poems: The Cross of Snow and My Lost Youth. These were the poems that I know by heart. The first poem that I choose to analyze is A Psalm of Life. This poem describes how a person should live and not have any worries. We have to make the best out of our lives and seize every opportunity. Most of Longfellow’s poems do not have a specific setting or place. The purpose he is trying to convey is usually focused on the deeper meaning of his poems. The setting in the poems that I choose doesn’t play a significant role.

In the poem A Psalm of Life, the personification (Art is long, and time is fleeing) and metaphor (In the world's broad field of battle, in the bivouac of Life) all leads up to the main theme/purpose of the poem. A person shouldn’t really have to worry about the future or dying but look forward and live your life to the fullest. Catch every opportunity that is given to you. “Trust no future, Act-act in the living present.”

       This poem shows Longfellow’s thanatological approach on life. He doesn’t fear death. Instead he believes that your soul truly flourishes in the afterlife and we should be more positive on life. Longfellow, Morrie Schwartz, and all other optimist have the same view: a life should never go to waste.