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Excelsior
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
- GenresPoetry
Nook
First published August 1, 2010
19 people want to read
About the author
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
2,926 books740 followersExtremely popular works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet, in the United States in his lifetime, include
The Song of Hiawatha
in 1855 and a translation from 1865 to 1867 of
Divine Comedy
of Dante Alighieri.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow educated. His originally wrote the "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Evangeline." From New England, he first completed work of the fireside.
Bowdoin College graduated Longefellow, who served as a professor, afterward studied in Europe, and later moved at Harvard. After a miscarriage, Mary Potter Longfellow, his first wife, died in 1835. He first collected Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841).
From teaching, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow retired in 1854 to focus on his writing in the headquarters of of George Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the Revolutionary War for the remainder.
Dress of Frances Appleton Longfellow, his second wife, caught fire; she then sustained burns and afterward died in 1861. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing and focused on from foreign languages.
Longfellow wrote musicality of many known lyrics and often presented stories of mythology and legend. He succeeded most overseas of his day. He imitated European styles and wrote too sentimentally for critics.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow educated. His originally wrote the "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Evangeline." From New England, he first completed work of the fireside.
Bowdoin College graduated Longefellow, who served as a professor, afterward studied in Europe, and later moved at Harvard. After a miscarriage, Mary Potter Longfellow, his first wife, died in 1835. He first collected Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841).
From teaching, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow retired in 1854 to focus on his writing in the headquarters of of George Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the Revolutionary War for the remainder.
Dress of Frances Appleton Longfellow, his second wife, caught fire; she then sustained burns and afterward died in 1861. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing and focused on from foreign languages.
Longfellow wrote musicality of many known lyrics and often presented stories of mythology and legend. He succeeded most overseas of his day. He imitated European styles and wrote too sentimentally for critics.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 27, 2024
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a gentle soul.
How could a legendary American who first envisioned the pacifistic, nature-loving Golden Age of the long poem Hiawatha be anything BUT?
America was built on confident self-assertion: and reaped the ephemeral fruits of a purpose-driven economy.
But Longfellow bucked the system.
For he was a Quietist, content with simple things. In earlier times he would have made a beautiful Franciscan!
And he would have stood, slack-jawed and aghast at our hurtling Modern Age.
For he knew that for ALL of us, late or soon, the Evening of Life must fall.
But don’t go TOO gentle into that good night! For Evening is the time of life when the Sheep are forever separated from the Goats.
You’ll see them both when you get old.
On one side the relentlessly purpose-driven seniors, and, on the others, those tranquil souls who have at last found ease and equipoise!
And Longfellow knew that.
After all, his was the first American translation of Dante’s “great divorce” (where sheep are finally freed from goats), the Divine Comedy.
And his translation, like Longfellow himself, ambles peaceably through the dark and forbidding Ivory Gates of Hell and the brilliant Horned Gates of Heaven - as Virgil would put it.
For his soul knew that the insights of Paradiso will eventually come to us all, though “in una parte piu” - on one side appearing much less wonderful than to the other - for to the blessed, Wonder is omnipresent.
The “parte piu” is the poor, ultimate prize of hedonistic purpose, as Longfellow well knew - and as Excelsior intimates::
The ULTIMATE parody of the Purpose-Driven Life.
Us Boomers might well remember the hilarious Rocky and Bullwinkle animated cartoon show of sixties TV.
If you do, you probably haven’t forgotten Bullwinkle’s bumbling parody of Longfellow’s parody, Excelsior - now that bumbling was Carrying Coals to Newcastle, wasn’t it?
But that was 60’s TV.
Just like our modern home entertainment apps - a velvet glove (storytelling) over an iron fist - the iron motives of an Excelsiorist purpose-driven market mentality hidden beneath a sugarcoating of warm, friendly illusion.
But now - having made my irritating incursion into irrevelevance - I can say that this short chef d’œuvre, Excelsior, sums up a truly noble POV.
And for us gentler souls it says it all.
Because it is the gently sybaritic summation of Longfellow’s own quietly unobtrusive worldview.
An old-fashioned POV that peaceably goes ITS OWN UNHURRIED WAY in life -
But’s not afraid to call it as it sees it (with its whispers of I TOLD YOU SO)...
Read it now for free on the Web!
***
Did you check it out?
There.
I told you so...
So Slow DOWN.
And NOW...
Be kinder and gentler with yourself.
And would you like to hear the great Sir Alec Guinness reading the poem?
https://youtu.be/RbOujJ_Acm0
ENJOY!
How could a legendary American who first envisioned the pacifistic, nature-loving Golden Age of the long poem Hiawatha be anything BUT?
America was built on confident self-assertion: and reaped the ephemeral fruits of a purpose-driven economy.
But Longfellow bucked the system.
For he was a Quietist, content with simple things. In earlier times he would have made a beautiful Franciscan!
And he would have stood, slack-jawed and aghast at our hurtling Modern Age.
For he knew that for ALL of us, late or soon, the Evening of Life must fall.
But don’t go TOO gentle into that good night! For Evening is the time of life when the Sheep are forever separated from the Goats.
You’ll see them both when you get old.
On one side the relentlessly purpose-driven seniors, and, on the others, those tranquil souls who have at last found ease and equipoise!
And Longfellow knew that.
After all, his was the first American translation of Dante’s “great divorce” (where sheep are finally freed from goats), the Divine Comedy.
And his translation, like Longfellow himself, ambles peaceably through the dark and forbidding Ivory Gates of Hell and the brilliant Horned Gates of Heaven - as Virgil would put it.
For his soul knew that the insights of Paradiso will eventually come to us all, though “in una parte piu” - on one side appearing much less wonderful than to the other - for to the blessed, Wonder is omnipresent.
The “parte piu” is the poor, ultimate prize of hedonistic purpose, as Longfellow well knew - and as Excelsior intimates::
The ULTIMATE parody of the Purpose-Driven Life.
Us Boomers might well remember the hilarious Rocky and Bullwinkle animated cartoon show of sixties TV.
If you do, you probably haven’t forgotten Bullwinkle’s bumbling parody of Longfellow’s parody, Excelsior - now that bumbling was Carrying Coals to Newcastle, wasn’t it?
But that was 60’s TV.
Just like our modern home entertainment apps - a velvet glove (storytelling) over an iron fist - the iron motives of an Excelsiorist purpose-driven market mentality hidden beneath a sugarcoating of warm, friendly illusion.
But now - having made my irritating incursion into irrevelevance - I can say that this short chef d’œuvre, Excelsior, sums up a truly noble POV.
And for us gentler souls it says it all.
Because it is the gently sybaritic summation of Longfellow’s own quietly unobtrusive worldview.
An old-fashioned POV that peaceably goes ITS OWN UNHURRIED WAY in life -
But’s not afraid to call it as it sees it (with its whispers of I TOLD YOU SO)...
Read it now for free on the Web!
***
Did you check it out?
There.
I told you so...
So Slow DOWN.
And NOW...
Be kinder and gentler with yourself.
And would you like to hear the great Sir Alec Guinness reading the poem?
https://youtu.be/RbOujJ_Acm0
ENJOY!
March 9, 2026
This poem teaches a life lesson we all can learn from.
April 5, 2025
Rather short for Longfellow's standards, nine stanzas of four verses each, this poem is about a young man, a traveler who passes through a mountain village. Excelsior, the eponymous title, taken from Latin, is about the idea of going higher and higher.
"There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!"
As Longfellow confessed, he has finished the poem on September 28, 1841, only to be published for the first in Supplement to the Courant, Connecticut Courant, vol. VII no. 2, January 22, 1842.
"There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!"
As Longfellow confessed, he has finished the poem on September 28, 1841, only to be published for the first in Supplement to the Courant, Connecticut Courant, vol. VII no. 2, January 22, 1842.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews