Nature
Nature
Original Text
The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with Bibliographical and Critical Notes, Riverside Edition (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1890), III, 207-08. PS 2250 E90 Robarts Library.
1As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,
2 Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
3 Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
4 And leave his broken playthings on the floor,
5Still gazing at them through the open door,
6 Nor wholly reassured and comforted
7 By promises of others in their stead,
8 Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;
9So Nature deals with us, and takes away
10 Our playthings one by one, and by the hand
11 Leads us to rest so gently, that we go
12Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,
13 Being too full of sleep to understand
14 How far the unknown transcends the what we know.
Publication Start Year
1875
Publication Notes
In The Masque of Pandora
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme
Form