Fireside Poems

The first fatal encounter between the Massachusetts Pilgrims and the native Massachusetts people, a counterweight to the story of the first Thanksgiving

The beauty of red maples in autumn is used by the poet to convey the beauty--and loss--of his beloved.

Longfellow invents a legend of a Viking/Norse visit to North America before Coumbus.

Poetry as an alternative to Monday Night Football and he general hurly-burly of the world, with a shout-out to The Last Duel.

Wordsworth, Longfellow, and our modern estrangement from nature. The World Is Too Much With Us

A classic moment from American literature, when the Puritan maiden Priscilla says to John Alden "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" and thus seals forever America as a place of freedom for women, men, and love.

Still let it ever be thy pride/To linger by the laborer’s side

A mid-day reverie of all the human activities done with ropes, both happy and sad, good and bad.

A woman on here bridal night raises her hand to stab her sleeping husband.

The poet finds strength gazing on the planet Mars in the night sky.