Inscription on the Shanklin Fountain
Inscription on the Shanklin Fountain - meaning Summary
Kindness as Enduring Legacy
Longfellow's short inscription addresses a traveler, offering hospitality and a moral reminder. The fountain's freely flowing water symbolizes universal charity and simple goodwill—available to rich and poor the same
—and prompts the traveler to remember the unnamed benefactor who provided it. The poem compresses communal generosity and gratitude into a didactic, accessible image, urging remembrance of humble acts of kindness as a lasting legacy.
O Traveller, stay thy weary feet; Drink of this fountain, pure and sweet; It flows for rich and poor the same. Then go thy way, remembering still The wayside well beneath the hill, The cup of water in his name.
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