sharing my love of books with you
Suzerainty – the position or power of a suzerain (a state in its relation to another over which it has political control)
“Latin America was screened off from European interference by the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which stated that European countries would not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of these republics, and the nation’s new empire in the Pacific, especially the Philippines, would be a territory under U.S. suzerainty.”
Aida D Donald, Lion in the White House
Munificence – very generous in giving; lavish; characterized by great generosity
“[Longfellow] could not, he wrote his father, argue well enough to be a successful lawyer; he was not good enough to be a minister; and as to medicine, “I utterly and absolutely detest it.” He pleaded instead to be allowed to take a postgraduate year at Harvard to study literature – and write.
This vocational crisis was luckily resolved by the munificence of another Bowdoin trustee, who had been so impressed with young Longfellow’s translation of Horace’s odes that he proposed that the professorship of foreign languages he was donating to Bowdoin be offered to Longfellow.”
Lawrence Buell, in the introduction to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems
Good morning, my friends. It’s a bit gloomy here today, but that makes it all the better for reading and writing.
I made a nice cup of London Fog Latte, which I am enjoying alongside the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. My plan for next month’s Journeys for Christ devotionals is to write from Ecclesiastes. I must say, that is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It’s such a practical book, even though it does have a somewhat depressed air about it. I will share those here on the blog next month.
I’m not sure if you can see behind my tea the book Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace. I finished Ben-Hur as an audiobook a few weeks ago. I didn’t update the blog about it, but I highly recommend the book. Lew Wallace set out to disprove the story of Jesus Christ, but he found through his travels to Israel and his study of the Bible and other historical texts that Jesus was exactly who He said He was: the Son of God, Savior of the world. Ben-Hur is the fictional story of a young Jewish prince who met Jesus face to face and – like Wallace – came to believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
For me, today will be filled with writing. I hope yours is filled with good as well. Happy Reading!
“Longfellow continually writes about disappointed hopes, the need to accommodate oneself to diminished expectations, and the pressures of coping with the fear that the reality of social or personal chaos is more than we can bear.”
Lawrence Buell, in the introduction to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems
Obloquy – verbal abuse of a person or thing, censure or vituperation*, especially when wide-spread or general
Purveyor – one who purveys (to purchase and supply provisions, especially for a number of people)
Verity – truthfulness
” “With me,” Longfellow once noted, “all deep impressions are silent ones. I like to live on, and enjoy them, without telling those around me that I do enjoy them.” Remarks like these suggest that the image of Longfellow as a comfortable, reassuring white-bearded purveyor of the accepted verities – the basis of both his late-Victorian fame and his mid-twentieth-century obloquy – has mistaken the surface for the totality of his mind.”
Lawrence Buell, in the introduction to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems
*Vituperate – to speak abusively to to or about; to berate; to revile
(Wow, that was a lot of new words at once!)
It’s a coffee kind of morning. To be more precise, Creme Brûlée coffee and my Jesus & Coffee mug. Now I’m ready to sit down to my newest undertaking: a swashbuckling pirate story! I have no idea what I’m going to do with it. It came to me in the middle of the night about a week ago. Or rather, one or two plot lines came to me. Is this how writers write? Decide on a character, decide on a few great scenes, and spend the majority of their time figuring out how to link those few great scenes together? I’ve been thinking about it all week. It took me that long to decide on names for the pirate and the princess.
Here is a glimpse of the next few posts I intend to write:
Those are the two big posts I will write the immediate future, so stay tuned! I also have some more new words and quick quotes to add this week. Such big writing plans, but for this morning, Pirates! Happy Reading!
Urbane – courteous in manners; polite; suave; elegant or refined
“It is true that Longfellow strove to present an unruffled, humane, urbane face to the world. The motto on his personal bookplate was non clamor, sed armor: not clamor, but love.”
Lawrence Buell, in the introduction to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems
Taciturnity – the quality or state of being taciturn (habitually silent; not apt to talk)
“When Longfellow wrote a grief-stricken acquaintance that “there are natures whose native strength and elasticity enable them to endure the worst, and yet live,” he was stating from experience a principle to which he clung in his own way as tenaciously as Hemingway did to his code of masculine taciturnity or Emerson to his self-imposed emotional detachment from all but his immediate family and sometimes even them.”
Lawrence Buell, in the introduction to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems
Palatial – of, like, or suitable for a palace; hence, large and ornate; stately; magnificent
“Throughout [Longfellow’s] life, he attached an extremely high value to politeness, common courtesy, dignity, and good citizenship, as well as to domestic comforts of a level of elegance that Ralph Waldo Emerson, on his visits to Cambridge from small-town Concord, found disorientingly palatial.”
Lawrence Buell, in the introduction to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems
Last Christmas, I watched a movie called I Heard the Bells based on the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the events that led up to his penning the beloved Christmas poem “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. Until then, I hadn’t learned much of Longfellow and had read even less. I did know he wrote a lot of long poems, so I didn’t want to invest in a large, expensive volume ’til I knew if I liked his poetry. So I purchased this little paperback from Penguin Classics. Some of the poems included are “Evangeline”, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, “A Psalm of Life”, and “The Village Blacksmith”.
The introduction is by Lawrence Buell. I’ve only read part of the introduction so far, but I learned so much about Longfellow that I can’t wait to read his poems. Did you know that he was a master of five languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German? And he could read in six more. He taught at Harvard until he decided to write poetry as his profession; he was the first American poet to do so. He lost two wives – the first after a miscarriage in Europe, the second in an accident when her dress caught fire. Longfellow knew deep love and deeper sorrow. I am really looking forward to reading these poems. Though, as with all poetry, I will have to read it slowly. Poetry, you see, should be read in small portions, both so you can take the whole meaning of a poem in to ponder and so you don’t get discouraged by misunderstanding.
Have you read any poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? I would love to know which ones you like so I can read them too.
Hi! I'm Cadie. Welcome to my Collection of Bookish Thoughts where I will share with you everything I love about books.
© 2025 A COLLECTION OF BOOKISH THOUGHTS
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑