By the Fireside : the Singers
By the Fireside : the Singers - meaning Summary
Three Singers, One Harmony
Longfellow sketches three archetypal singers—a youthful lyrist of dreams, a vigorous market-place bard, and an old cathedral cantor—whose distinct songs move people in different ways. Listeners argue which is superior, but the poem’s speaker reports the divine verdict: the gifts differ in kind and degree—to charm, to strengthen, to teach—and when rightly heard they form a single, perfect harmony rather than discord.
Read Complete AnalysesGod sent his Singers upon earth With songs of sadness and of mirth, That they might touch the hearts of men, And bring them back to heaven again. The first, a youth, with soul of fire, Held in his hand a golden lyre; Through groves he wandered, and by streams, Playing the music of our dreams. The second, with a bearded face, Stood singing in the market-place, And stirred with accents deep and loud The hearts of all the listening crowd. A gray old man, the third and last, Sang in cathedrals dim and vast, While the majestic organ rolled Contrition from its mouths of gold. And those who heard the Singers three Disputed which the best might be; For still their music seemed to start Discordant echoes in each heart, But the great Master said, 'I see No best in kind, but in degree; I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach. 'These are the three great chords of might, And he whose ear is tuned aright Will hear no discord in the three, But the most perfect harmony.'
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