A Little Poetry For You: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It's Poetry Friday and I've got three poems from my childhood running through my head, all from Longfellow and often recited by my mother.

The first, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," reminds me of that certain cadence and clarity that Longfellow's poems so often have.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

The rest of Paul Revere is here.

The second, "Song of Hiawatha," was also one I heard pieces of pretty regularly. Again, the rythm of it stuck with me.

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

The rest of Hiawatha is here. It's a long 'un. The lines I quoted are from Chapter 3.

The third is one I remember from when I was very young. Many many nights, as my mother tucked me in and said good night, I would ask her to say this poem. She liked to tease me with it, because I was a little bit like this "little girl,"

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

Now, the poem my mother recited went on at least two more verses. Lines I particularly remember are (loosely quoted from memory):

She stood upon her head in her little trundle bed.

I remember there was kicking of some sort.

Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
A-playing at a combat in the attic.

And I remember there was some serious spanking going on here.

If you look around the web however, there are many versions, and not a lot of great information about which lines are correct after the first verse. So I will leave it as just what I have posted above.

Here is a photo to show you why the poem seemed so relevant to me as a child. Note the placement of the prominent curl.

But really... if you heard a ruckus in the house, who would you believe, the two obviously squirrely brothers to the left and right of the picture, or the sweet, innocent angel in the middle?