Ultima Thule: My Cathedral
Ultima Thule: My Cathedral - meaning Summary
Nature as Sacred Space
Longfellow likens a stand of pines to a cathedral, mapping religious architecture onto a natural scene. He emphasizes sensory experience—sight of lofty trunks and the sound of wind and birds—as a form of wordless worship. The poem invites the reader to enter, notice simple details like leaf-carpeted ground and avian song, and to recognize that reverence and spiritual feeling can arise from nature rather than built monuments or formal rites.
Read Complete AnalysesLike two cathedral towers these stately pines Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones; The arch beneath them is not built with stones, Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines, And carved this graceful arabesque of vines; No organ but the wind here sighs and moans, No sepulchre conceals a martyr's bones. No marble bishop on his tomb reclines. Enter! the pavement, carpeted with leaves, Gives back a softened echo to thy tread! Listen! the choir is singing; all the birds, In leafy galleries beneath the eaves, Are singing! listen, ere the sound be fled, And learn there may be worship with out words.
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