In the Churchyard at Tarrytown
In the Churchyard at Tarrytown - meaning Summary
Graceful Elegy for a Friend
Longfellow’s brief elegy commemorates the gentle humorist Washington Irving, pictured at rest beside the river he celebrated. The poem frames Irving’s later years as an autumnal Indian Summer: life bright with warm, multiplying colors, and death sweet and peaceful. It emphasizes the consoling persistence of memory, likening the poet’s influence to lingering summer air that brings both grief and gladness to those who remember him.
Read Complete AnalysesHere lies the gentle humorist, who died In the bright Indian Summer of his fame! A simple stone, with but a date and name, Marks his secluded resting-place beside The river that he loved and glorified. Here in the autumn of his days he came, But the dry leaves of life were all aflame With tints that brightened and were multiplied. How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death! Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours, Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer; Dying, to leave a memory like the breath Of summers full of sunshine and of showers, A grief and gladness in the atmosphere.
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