A review by whippycleric
The Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I chose to get a copy of Longfellows collected works after reading the Dante Club, a murder mystery where he appears as a key character (as the American poet who translated the DIvine Comedy). This certainly covers almost every poem ever written by Longfellow along with a few translations as well. It took me 6 months to read picking it up when I felt like it, and for the vast majority of the time it was very enjoyable. I wasn't a big fan of the 3 part epic "Christus, A Mystery" which did take up about a 5th of the anthology, which is the only reason why I am giving this a 4 instead of 4.5. I've put a little list of my personal faveourites at the end of this review, for my own reference more than anything. This was really the first classical style of poetry I'd read for a long time, excluding ancient works like Dante and Ovid, and I'll definitely be getting some more to read from other famout poets.

• The Wreck of Hesperus
• The Norman Baron
• To a Child
• The Arrow and the Song
• The Fire of Drift Wood
• The Building of the Ship
• The Song of Hiawatha
• The Discoverer of the North Cape
• Something Left Undone
• Tales of a Wayside Inn - Theologian's Tale - The Legend Beautiful
• The Masque of Pandora
• The Broken Oar
• Bayard Taylor
• Maiden and Weather Cock
• Auf Wiedersehen
• Spanish Translation - Song
• German Translation - Poetic Aphorisms - From the Sinngedichte of Friedrich von Logau
• French Translation - A quiet Life