In The Harbour: Possibilities

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



Where are the Poets, unto whom belong
The Olympian heights; whose singing shafts were sent
Straight to the mark, and not from bows half bent,
But with the utmost tension of the thong?
Where are the stately argosies of song,
Whose rushing keels made music as they went
Sailing in search of some new continent,
With all sail set, and steady winds and strong?
Perhaps there lives some dreamy boy, untaught
In schools, some graduate of the field or street,
Who shall become a master of the art,
An admiral sailing the high seas of thought,
Fearless and first, and steering with his fleet
For lands not yet laid down in any chart.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
159

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABCABDEFDE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 115
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

All Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Books

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    "In The Harbour: Possibilities" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/18655/in-the-harbour:-possibilities>.

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