The Jewish Cemetery at Newport (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- First Published: 1854
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Nineteenth century, Religion, New England, Jews or Jewish life, Death or dying, Life and death, Jews and Gentiles, Hebrew language, Cemeteries
“The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” is structured by a series of contrasts. The silent “Hebrews” in their graves are contrasted with the motion of the waves. Death, declare the mourners, “giveth Life that nevermore shall cease.” The central contrast is the one between the living and the dead. The synagogue is closed, and the living have gone, “but the dead remain,/ And not neglected; for a hand unseen,/ Scattering its bounty, like a summer rain,/ Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green.” The dead seem to be especially blessed by that “unseen hand” of...
[The entire page is 675 words long]
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