The Literature Network - Longfellow's Snow-Flakes.(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)(Critical Essay)

Longfellow's Snow-Flakes.(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)(Critical Essay)

Content courtesy of

From: The Explicator
Date: 20050622
Author:Higgins, Andrew C.

Far from the hypersensitive spirit of popular legend, Longfellow was a practical, intelligent writer who used sentimental forms for pragmatic purposes. The poem "Snow-Flakes" is one of the best examples of this. Written in the wake of the sudden death of Longfellow's wife Fanny, and during the mayhem of the Civil War, "Snow-Flakes" instructs the reader on how to use the natural world to come to terms with grief. In doing so, Longfellow exposes the heuristic nature of Emersonian transcendence, showing that it is not a mystic state of divine revelation, but rather a psychological ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A284/14: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: portrait

The ghostly presence of Evangeline: Faulkner's exorcism and revision of the feminine ideal.(influence of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on novelist William Faulkner)

Longfellow and Thomas Bulfinch.(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)(Brief Article)

GOV. BLANCO PROCLAIMS FEB. 27 AS HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DAY

GOV. GRANHOLM PROCLAIMS FEB. 27 AS HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DAY

GOV. GIBBONS PROCLAIMS FEB. 27 AS HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DAY

GOV. RILEY PROCLAIMS FEB. 27 AS HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DAY

Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Hiawatha

GOV. BEEBE PROCLAIMS FEB. 27 AS HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DAY

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH (1807-1882)

Find More Articles

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.