1839 ‘The Wreck of Hesperus’

Most likely the first afterlife work to occur outside of Britain, this poem was originally titled, ‘The Ballad of Schooner Hesperus’. This ballad features moon imagery as well as exact phrases and patterns that appear in Percy’s version of Spens. Longfellow even includes a sailor who warns the captain of a winter storm that will kill them all.

Selected Criticism

Martin B. Ostrofsky, ‘Longfellow’s “The Wreck of the Hesperus”: A Folkloric Analysis’. Kentucky Folklore Record. (1984).

Charles C. Calhoun, Longfellow: a rediscovered life. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2004). pp. 138-139.

Samuel Longfellow, The Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with excerpts from his journal and correspondence. Vol I of II. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1891 [1886]). pp. 297, 353-355.

Sources: Poetry-Online; About.com; GoogleBooks

[Excerpt]

Then up and spake an old Sailòr,
Had sailed to the Spanish Main,
‘I pray thee, put into yonder port,
For I fear a hurricane.

‘Last night, the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!’
The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.