Laurel · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · The Complete Poetical Works

To the Children of Cambridge

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) · 1839–1882

iambic tetrameter · AABB · 51 lines · from The Complete Poetical Works

Who presented to me on my Seventy-second Birth-day, February 27,1879, this Chair, made from the Wood of the Village Blacksmith'sChestnut Tree.

Am I a king, that I should call my ownThis splendid ebon throne?Or by what reason, or what right divine,Can I proclaim it mine?

Only, perhaps, by right divine of songIt may to me belong;Only because the spreading chestnut treeOf old was sung by me.

Well I remember it in all its prime,When in the summer-timeThe affluent foliage of its branches madeA cavern of cool shade.

There, by the blacksmith's forge, beside the street,Its blossoms white and sweetEnticed the bees, until it seemed alive,And murmured like a hive.

And when the winds of autumn, with a shout,Tossed its great arms about,The shining chestnuts, bursting from the sheath,Dropped to the ground beneath.

And now some fragments of its branches bare,Shaped as a stately chair,Have by my hearthstone found a home at last,And whisper of the past.

The Danish king could not in all his prideRepel the ocean tide,But, seated in this chair, I can in rhymeRoll back the tide of Time.

I see again, as one in vision sees,The blossoms and the bees,And hear the children's voices shout and call,And the brown chestnuts fall.

I see the smithy with its fires aglow,I hear the bellows blow,And the shrill hammers on the anvil beatThe iron white with heat!

And thus, dear children, have ye made for meThis day a jubilee,And to my more than three-score years and tenBrought back my youth again.

The heart hath its own memory, like the mind,And in it are enshrinedThe precious keepsakes, into which is wroughtThe giver's loving thought.

Only your love and your remembrance couldGive life to this dead wood,And make these branches, leafless now so long,Blossom again in song.

Words in this poem

ebon a.: Consisting of ebony.
affluent a.: Flowing to; flowing abundantly. [Cf. F. affluent, L. affluens, -entis, p. pr. See Affluence.]
hearthstone n.: Stone forming the hearth; hence, the fireside; home.
smithy n.: The workshop of a smith, esp. a blacksmith; a smithery; a stithy. [AS. smi, fr. smi; akin to D. smidse, smids, OHG. smitta, G. schmiede, Icel. smi. See Smith, n.]
aglow adv.: In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

To the Children of Cambridge is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To the Children of Cambridge, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/to-the-children-of-cambridge.html, id L17799.

Form and metre

To the Children of Cambridge is 51 lines in 13 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 12 of its 13 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in iambic tetrameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

2 AABB own^A · throne^A · divine^B · mine^B
3 AABB song^A · belong^A · tree^B · me^B
4 AABB prime^A · time^A · made^B · shade^B
5 AABB street^A · sweet^A · alive^B · hive^B
6 AABB shout^A · about^A · sheath^B · beneath^B
7 AABB bare^A · chair^A · last^B · past^B
8 AABB pride^A · tide^A · rhyme^B · time^B
9 AABB sees^A · bees^A · call^B · fall^B
10 AABB aglow^A · blow^A · beat^B · heat^B
11 AABB me^A · jubilee^A · ten^B · again^B
12 AABB mind^A · enshrined^A · wrought^B · thought^B
13 AABB could^A · wood^A · long^B · song^B

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Who presented to me on my Seventy-second Birth-day, February 27,	18	·˘/˘····/˘/˘··/˘·˘
1879, this Chair, made from the Wood of the Village Blacksmith's	12	········/˘/·
Chestnut Tree.	3	/··
Am I a king, that I should call my own	10	··········
This splendid ebon throne?	6	·/˘/˘·
Or by what reason, or what right divine,	10	···/˘···˘/
Can I proclaim it mine?	6	··˘/··
Only, perhaps, by right divine of song	10	/˘˘/··˘/··
It may to me belong;	6	····˘/
Only because the spreading chestnut tree	10	/˘···/˘/··
Of old was sung by me.	6	······
Well I remember it in all its prime,	10	··˘/˘·····
When in the summer-time	6	···/˘·
The affluent foliage of its branches made	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
A cavern of cool shade.	6	·/˘···
There, by the blacksmith's forge, beside the street,	10	···/··˘/··
Its blossoms white and sweet	6	·/˘···
Enticed the bees, until it seemed alive,	10	˘/······˘/
And murmured like a hive.	6	·/˘···
And when the winds of autumn, with a shout,	10	·····/˘···
Tossed its great arms about,	6	······
The shining chestnuts, bursting from the sheath,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Dropped to the ground beneath.	6	······
And now some fragments of its branches bare,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Shaped as a stately chair,	6	···/˘·
Have by my hearthstone found a home at last,	10	···/˘·····
And whisper of the past.	6	·/˘···
The Danish king could not in all his pride	10	·/˘·······
Repel the ocean tide,	6	˘/·/˘·
But, seated in this chair, I can in rhyme	10	·/˘·······
Roll back the tide of Time.	6	······
I see again, as one in vision sees,	10	··˘/···/˘·
The blossoms and the bees,	6	·/˘···
And hear the children's voices shout and call,	10	···/˘/˘···
And the brown chestnuts fall.	6	···/˘·
I see the smithy with its fires aglow,	10	···/˘··/˘/
I hear the bellows blow,	6	···/˘·
And the shrill hammers on the anvil beat	10	···/˘··/˘·
The iron white with heat!	6	·/˘···
And thus, dear children, have ye made for me	10	···/˘·····
This day a jubilee,	6	···/˘·
And to my more than three-score years and ten	10	··········
Brought back my youth again.	6	····˘/
The heart hath its own memory, like the mind,	10	·····/˘···
And in it are enshrined	6	····˘/
The precious keepsakes, into which is wrought	10	·/˘/······
The giver's loving thought.	6	·/˘/˘·
Only your love and your remembrance could	10	/˘····˘/˘·
Give life to this dead wood,	6	······
And make these branches, leafless now so long,	10	···/˘/˘···
Blossom again in song.	6	/˘˘/··

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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