Sunday, February 19, 2023

"Afternoon in February" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Afternoon in February


The day is ending,

The night is descending;

The marsh is frozen,

The river dead.

Through clouds like ashes

The red sun flashes

On village windows

That glimmer red.

The snow recommences;

The buried fences

Mark no longer

The road o'er the plain;

While through the meadows,

Like fearful shadows,

Slowly passes

A funeral train.

The bell is pealing,

And every feeling

Within me responds

To the dismal knell;

Shadows are trailing,

My heart is bewailing

And tolling within

Like a funeral bell.



Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.


poem video👇

https://youtu.be/EyaLBfU_QEA




Who wrote the poem "Afternoon in February"?


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator. He was one of the most famous American poets of the 19th century, both domestically and internationally, and was one of the few American writers honored in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine (then still part of Massachusetts). He studied at Bowdoin College and became a professor there and later at Harvard University. His poems were known for their musicality, often including stories of mythology and legend.




"Afternoon in February" explanation


The speaker in the poem describes a funeral procession and a desolate wintry scenery in a late afternoon of February. The overall sober and grim tone out of various imageries and metaphors accentuate a deep sense of sadness of a person mourning a death. Relatively short verses create a feeling of fast pace, which can be connected to the shortness of a February afternoon.

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