“The Children’s Hour” is one of my favorite Longfellow poems. Mother read or recited it to me, and I have recited it (or at least the last two stanzas) to my children and grandchildren.
The Children’s
Hour
Between
the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes
a pause in the day’s occupations,
That is known as the Children’s Hour.
I
hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The
sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.
From
my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave
Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.
A
whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They
are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.
A
sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By
three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!
They
climb up into my turret
O’re the arms and back of my chair;
If
I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.
They
almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till
I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!
Do
you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such
an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
I
have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But
put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart
And
there I will keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till
the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!
~
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This
poem is in the public domain.)
You can find a searchable list of Longfellow's poems at http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_front.php.
Longfellow
was highly honored in his day, but his work fell out of favor. In fact, rhyming
poetry has fallen out of favor with many publishers, though there is some
resurgence of interest in rhymed and metered forms.
Rhyming
poems tend to be easier to memorize. Rhyme can often be used to good effect
when the poet wants to be humorous, but it can also be used in more serious
poetry.
The
May Poetry Challenge:
The
May Poetry Challenge is to write a poem with rhyme. You may use end rhyme or
internal rhyme or both. You may choose to follow the rules of a form, such as a
sonnet, strictly or loosely, write in quatrains (as in “The Children’s Hour”),
or be more casual about the meter. You may use off- or slant-rhyme for at least
some of the rhymes. The poem can be serious or humorous. If you use a form,
please specify the form.
Your
poem should be titled.
If
your poem has been published you may submit it if you retain copyright, but
please include publication data. This applies to poems published in books,
journals, newspapers, or on the Internet. Note that this is a change in the
rules.
The
deadline is May 15. Poems submitted after the deadline
will not be considered. There is no charge to enter, so there are no monetary
rewards; however winners are published on this blog. Please don’t stray too far
from “family-friendly” language. No simultaneous submissions, please. You should
know by the end of the month whether or not your poem will be published on this
blog. Decision of the judge or judges is final.
Copyright
on each poem is retained by the poet. If a winning poem is published elsewhere
later, please give credit to this blog.
How to
Submit Your Poem:
Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”) . Include a brief bio which can be printed with your poem, if you are a winner this month.
Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”) . Include a brief bio which can be printed with your poem, if you are a winner this month.
Submission
of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a
winner, so be sure that you put your name (exactly as you would like it to
appear if you do win) at the end of the poem. Poems may be pasted into an email
or sent as an attachment (no pdf files, please). Please do not indent the poem or center it on the page. It helps if
you submit the poem in the format used on the blog (Title and poem
left-justified; title in bold (not all in capital letters); your name at the
bottom of the poem). Also, please do not use spaces instead of commas in the
middle of lines. I have no problem with poets using that technique; I sometimes
do it myself. However I have difficulty getting the blog to accept and maintain
extra spaces.
Poems
shorter than 40 lines are generally preferred. Also, if lines are too long,
they don’t fit in the blog format and have to be split, so you might be wise to
use shorter lines.
©
Wilda Morris
