QOTM...*: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(*Quote of the Month)

Over the pallid sea and the 

silvery mist of the meadows,

Silently one by one, in the 

infinite meadows of heaven,

Blossomed the lovely stars,

the forget-me-nots of the angels.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

OK, I know I did a quote from Longfellow a short time back, but looking up at the summer night skies these days I could not resist posting another. I had actually intended to share it last month when I did the selection from my nature journal entitled “Enhanced Night Vision,” a piece on stargazing and other kinds of seeing, but I forgot. Click the title to check it out if you missed it.

Longfellow, you may recall, was a 19^th Century American poet (1807-1882), a card-carrying romantic, his work replete with emotive phrases calling out the beauty of God’s creation. These particular lines are from the third chapter, Part 1, of his epic poem Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie. It is a beautiful quote within a beautiful piece, the story of a betrothed young woman and man separated from each other during the British deportation of early French settlers from the Canadian Maritimes in the mid-1700’s. The entire work is available for free from Amazon or Gutenberg, to be enjoyed by other hopeless romantics like me.

Many a time have I sat before the developing night sky watching stars appear thusly. Longfellow’s reference to them as ‘the forget-me-nots of the angels’ is a lovely thought, as Gail and I have also enjoyed countless times photographing these delightful little blue flowers in early spring. I had not considered the resemblance before reading the lines, but now cannot forget it.

~RGM, July 18, 2013

QOTM...*: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(*Quote of the month)

And nature, the old nurse, took

The child upon her knee,

Saying, “Here is a story book

My Father hath writ for thee.

Come, wander with me,” she said,

“In regions yet untrod,

And read what is still unread

In the manuscripts of God.”

~~ Longfellow            

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a 19^th Century American poet, writer, and educator. A true romantic, and wildly popular in his day, his work came under criticism after his death for being somewhat sentimental and catering to the masses. But since I am a pretty sentimental guy and don’t mind people catering to me, I find I enjoy a good bit of his work! And that for the same reason that I like cheesy Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals and the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life!”

White Sands Nat'l Monument, NM

Though he is not categorized with the transcendentalist movement exemplified by Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman, some of the themes common to that movement, such as nature and theism, are well apparent in Longfellow’s writing. My favorite is Evangeline, a beautiful love story of an Acadian couple separated in their youth and reunited in their old age. Being a lover of the Northwoods, I find The Song of Hiawatha also a very pleasant read. I have both on my phone and refer to them from time to time while standing in a slow line. (You can download either for free through Gutenberg or Amazon.) The quote above is an excerpt from one of his abundant shorter poems.

Ottawa Nat'l Forest, MI
(Photography by R&G Mylander)

Many writers speak of nature as ‘the book of God,’ or, as in Longfellow’s case here, the manuscript of God. That concept is even alluded to by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans: …What may be known about God is plain to people, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been created, so that people are without excuse [when they say they have had no way to know God]. (Romans 1:19-20, parentheses mine)

So, if you’ll pardon me, I think I’ll go read the book. Join me?

~RGM, February 11, 2013