My Lost Youth by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

My Lost Youth by
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
Poetic Meaning
Setting: A city by the sea, present times
"OFTEN I think of the beautiful
town / That is seated by the sea;"
(Longfellow 12)
Speaker: The author, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow.
"Strange to me now are the
forms I meet" (Longfellow 73)
Theme: Although the past is settled and
finsih, it still affects you to the present
day.
"It flutters and murmurs
still" (Longfellow 52)
POV: First person
"And my youth comes back
to me." (Longfellow 5)
Poetic Structure
Rhyme
Each stanza has the rhyme scheme of
ABAABCDDE. The ending word of
each line of the first stanza, in order,
are "town," "sea," "down," "town,"
"me," "song," "still," "will,"
"thoughts."
Repetition
The line " 'A boy's will is the wind's will, /
And the thoughts of youth are long, long
thoughts.' " repeats at the end of each
stanza.
Alliteration
"A boy's will is the wind's will"
(Longfellow 35)
Poetic Language
Personification
"A boy's will is the
wind's will" (Longfellow
8)
Tone is nostalgic
"Are longings wild and
vain." (Longfellow 59)
Allusion to the Hesperides, Greek nymphs
who represent the "golden lights of
sunsets."
"And islands that were the
Hesperides" (Longfellow 13)
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