Tales of a Wayside Inn : Part 3. the Theologian's Tale
Tales of a Wayside Inn : Part 3. the Theologian's Tale - context Summary
Published 1863
This poem appears in Longfellow’s 1863 collection Tales of a Wayside Inn, itself inspired by a real Massachusetts inn he frequented. It is framed as one of the tales told by the inn’s company and opens with a domestic, wintry scene: a woman at her kitchen window remarking on the sudden evening and the pristine snow. The poem situates its small personal observation within the larger narrative frame of the collection.
Read Complete Analyses'Ah, how short are the days! How soon the night overtakes us! In the old country the twilight is longer; but here in the forest Suddenly comes the dark, with hardly a pause in its coming, Hardly a moment between the two lights, the day and the lamplight; Yet how grand is the winter! How spotless the snow is, and perfect!' Thus spake Elizabeth Haddon at nightfall to Hannah the housemaid, As in the farm-house kitchen, that served for kitchen and parlor, By the window she sat with her work, and looked on a landscape White as the great white sheet that Peter saw in his vision, By the four corners let down and descending out of the heavens.
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