The Wreck Of The Hesperus by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. The Wreck Of The Hesperusby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2. The Wreck Of The Hesperusby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Learning Objectives • As we study this poem you will learn: • the story of the poem and its history • be introduced to the terms • Stanza: Line Length: Narrative: Simile: Rhyme & Tone • and how to read out one stanza to the class. • You will also complete two tasks , one a written assignments based on the poem of 300-500 words. There will also be a test assignment on the poem to be completed in class.

3. It was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper had taken his little daughter, To bear him company. Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, Her cheeks like the dawn of day, And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds, That ope in the month of May. The skipper he stood beside the helm, His pipe was in his mouth, And he watched how the veering flaw did blow The smoke now West, now South. Then up and spake an old Sailor, Had sailed to the Spanish Main, "I pray thee, put into yonder port, For I fear a hurricane. "Last night, the moon had a golden ring, And to-night no moon we see!" The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, And a scornful laugh laughed he.  Colder and louder blew the wind, A gale from the Northeast, The snow fell hissing in the brine, And the billows frothed like yeast. Down came the storm, and smote again The vessel in its strength; She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, Then leaped her cable's length. "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, And do not tremble so; For I can weather the roughest gale That ever wind did blow." He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat Against the stinging blast; He cut a rope from a broken spar, And bound her to the mast. "O father! I hear the church-bells ring, Oh say, what may it be?" "'T is a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!"And he steered for the open sea. "O father! I hear the sound of guns, Oh say, what may it be?" "Some ship in distress, that cannot live In such an angry sea!" 

4. "O father! I see a gleaming light,  Oh say, what may it be?" But the father answered never a word, A frozen corpse was he.  Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, With his face turned to the skies, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow On his fixed and glassy eyes. And fast through the midnight dark and drear, Through the whistling sleet and snow, Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept Tow'rds the reef of Norman's Woe. And ever the fitful gusts between A sound came from the land; It was the sound of the trampling surf On the rocks and the hard sea-sand. The breakers were right beneath her bows, She drifted a dreary wreck, And a whooping billow swept the crew Like icicles from her deck.  She struck where the white and fleecy waves Looked soft as carded wool, But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Like the horns of an angry bull. Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, With the masts went by the board; Like a vessel of glass, she stove and sank, Ho! ho! the breakers roared! At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach, A fisherman stood aghast, To see the form of a maiden fair, Lashed close to a drifting mast. The salt sea was frozen on her breast, The salt tears in her eyes; And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed, On the billows fall and rise. Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, In the midnight and the snow! God save us all from a death like this, On the reef of Norman's Woe!

5. The Story Of The Poem • "The Wreck of the Hesperus" is a story that presents the tragic consequences of a sea captain's pride. On an ill-fated voyage in the winter, he had his daughter aboard ship for company. The disaster came when the captain ignored the advice of one of his experienced men, who feared that a hurricane was approaching. • When the hurricane arrives, he ties his daughter to the mast to prevent her from being swept overboard; she calls out to her dying father as she hears the surf beating on the shore. • The ship crashes onto the reef of Norman's Woe and sinks. A horrified fisherman finds the daughter's body, still tied to the mast, drifting in the surf the next morning. • The poem ends with a prayer that we all be spared such a fate "on the reef of Norman's Woe."

6. The Story Of The Poem Longfellow combined fact and fancy to create this, one of his best-known, most macabre, and most enduring poems. His inspiration was a great storm, which ravaged the northeast coast of the United States, January 6 1839. The storm raged for 12 hours and destroyed 20 ships with a loss of 40 lives. He probably drew specifically on the destruction of the Favorite on the reef of Norman's Woe, located off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. As a result of the storm all hands on the Favorite were lost, one of whom was a woman, who reportedly floated to shore dead but still tied to the mast.

7. The Wreck in History • After the disaster, Longfellow wrote in his journal: News of shipwrecks horrible, on the coast. Forty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester, one lashed to a piece of the wreck. There is a reef called Norman's Woe, where many of these took place; among others the schooner Hesperus. • So it seems that there was a real Hesperus which came to grief on Norman's Woe, though the rest of the detail from the poem may be pieced together from the reports of several ships.

8. The Wreck in History

9. The Structure Of The Poem • This is a Narrative poem as it tells the story of an imagined nautical disaster that is loosely based on real events.. • The poem is composed of 21 four-line stanzas, of which the second and fourth lines of each rhyme, ie. each stanza contains a single Alternate Rhyming Couplet. • The lines that contain the rhyme are 6-8 syllables long and each rhyming line is nearly always the same length, ie. It was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; (6) And the skipper had taken his little daughter,  To bear him company. (6) • The unrhymed lines vary in length from about 8-12 syllables. It was the schooner Hesperus, (8) That sailed the wintry sea;  And the skipper had taken his little daughter, (12) To bear him company. • The formal rhyme scheme with its even line length on rhymed lines gives this poem a strong rhythm.

10. The Structure Of The Poem • The poem relies a great deal on Similes to create a strong sense of place and character, eg: Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax,  Her cheeks like the dawn of day,  ~~~~ The snow fell hissing in the brine,  And the billows frothed like yeast.  • The poem also has several examples of Alliteration which also help to create the strong rhythm in the poem, eg: Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, (L5) That ope in the month of May. (L8) • Another strong feature of the poem is Longfellow’s use of repetition, especially when he has the characters speaking. He does this to emphasise a point the character is making, and/or to help create rhythm in the poem eg: "Last night, the moon had a golden ring,  And to-night no moon we see!"  ~~~~ "Comehither! come hither! my little daughter,  And do not tremble so; 

11. Task1 Look at the stanza you have been given and: • Write down what happens in your stanza, • Count the number of syllables on each line, • Note any use of similes, repetition or alliteration, • Identify the words you think are important to helping create mood, atmosphere or character.

12. Assignment Imagine you are either The Captain, his daughter or the fisherman that finds the wreckage. Write out the events of the poem from your point of view. Remember to describe clearly what your chosen character is thinking and feeling as the tragic story of the poem unfolds. If you are the Captain or his daughter think carefully about how you are going to describe how your character dies – does their voice continue to describe things after their death or is that the end? Are you going to describe these events in real time as they happen or are you some sort of spirit that is looking back at the end of their life? If you are the fisherman, what do you think and feel as you see this girl floating in the water? 400-500 Words by Wed 12th Sept.

13. Test on the poem Wed 5th Sept If you would like a copy of this PowerPoint presentation to help revise for your test, please e-mail a request to Mr Tim at: timdunne53@gmail.com