My Lost Youth (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- First Published: 1858
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
The Poem
“My Lost Youth,” a lyrical autobiography of the poet’s early life, is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s tribute both to his native city of Portland, Maine, and to the boy who climbed its hilly streets and gazed out over its harbor dreaming faraway dreams. The poem consists of ten nine-line stanzas, the last two lines of each being the famous refrain “A boy’s will is the wind’s will,/ And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts,” which, as is made clear in the first stanza, are verses translated from a Lapland song.
Although the refrain is,...
[The entire page is 1607 words long]
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