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Wapentake

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Topics: classic

TO ALFRED TENNYSON     Poet! I come to touch thy lance with mine;         Not as a knight, who on the listed field         Of tourney touched his adversary's shield         In token of defiance, but in sign     Of homage to the mastery, which is thine,         In English song; nor will I keep concealed,         And voiceless as a rivulet frost-congealed,         My admiration for thy verse divine.     Not of the howling dervishes of song,         Who craze the brain with their delirious dance,         Art thou, O sweet historian of the heart!     Therefore to thee the laurel-leaves belong,         To thee our love and our allegiance,         For thy allegiance to the poet's art.

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"TO ALFRED TENNYSON..."

"Wapentake" is a quintessential example of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"TO ALFRED TENNYSON..." by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the most popular American poet of the 19th century. His narrative poems—including "Paul Revere's Ride," "Evangeline," and "The Song of Hiawatha"—made poetry accessible to a mass audience and shaped American cultural identity.

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