In these 3 sonnets, Longfellow uses Romantic imagery
and sound effects to dramatize 3 important moments in
his life as an artist: "Mezzo cammin" describes the
mid-life crisis that impelled him to begin writing
seriously. "The sound of the sea" is a metaphor for a
happy time when artistic inspiration arrived as a gift
unforseen and flowed freely. "The poets' is a
retrospective summation of a life given to poetry (or
'Song' as he calls it) with its mostly internal
rewards. Because he invokes the g...(+)
In these 3 sonnets, Longfellow uses Romantic imagery
and sound effects to dramatize 3 important moments in
his life as an artist: "Mezzo cammin" describes the
mid-life crisis that impelled him to begin writing
seriously. "The sound of the sea" is a metaphor for a
happy time when artistic inspiration arrived as a gift
unforseen and flowed freely. "The poets' is a
retrospective summation of a life given to poetry (or
'Song' as he calls it) with its mostly internal
rewards. Because he invokes the great poets who went
before, I have imagined this scene in a grand interior
like the Panthéon of Paris, and written a series of
single or double accompanied echo canons with
increasing delay, suggesting an expanding space.
PARTITION