Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 1. Interlude VI.



Thus closed the tale of guilt and gloom,
That cast upon each listener's face
Its shadow, and for some brief space
Unbroken silence filled the room.
The Jew was thoughtful and distressed;
Upon his memory thronged and pressed
The persecution of his race,
Their wrongs and sufferings and disgrace;
His head was sunk upon his breast,
And from his eyes alternate came
Flashes of wrath and tears of shame.

The Student first the silence broke,
As one who long has lain in wait,
With purpose to retaliate,
And thus he dealt the avenging stroke.
'In such a company as this,
A tale so tragic seems amiss,
That by its terrible control
O'ermasters and drags down the soul
Into a fathomless abyss.
The Italian Tales that you disdain,
Some merry Night of Straparole,
Or Machiavelli's Belphagor,
Would cheer us and delight us more,
Give greater pleasure and less pain
Than your grim tragedies of Spain!'

And here the Poet raised his hand,
With such entreaty and command,
It stopped discussion at its birth,
And said: 'The story I shall tell
Has meaning in it, if not mirth;
Listen, and hear what once befell
The merry birds of Killingworth!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
104

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACCBBCDD EFFEGGHHGIHJJII KKLMLML
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,104
Words 201
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 11, 15, 7

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

All Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Books

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    "Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 1. Interlude VI." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/18746/tales-of-a-wayside-inn-:-part-1.-interlude-vi.>.

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