12/31/2023 – “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Thanks Lenny! We much enjoyed the movie, the true story behind: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. (movie title: 2022 – “I Heard the Bells”)
America was blessed with a dearth of great poets in the 19th century, contemporaries of Longfellow. (link below – bottom)
John Baptiste Calkin’s 1872 processional from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem:
And here , sung by Casting Crowns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNu2eg8iFUc_
Just a partial list of 18th century American poets!:
https://interestingliterature.com/2019/11/best-nineteenth-century-poems/
I recall my father’s memory of he and his classmates in little Dallas, South Dakota would memorize poems. To my amazement, he immediately recited an apparent favorite of his: “Snowbound” by John Greenleaf Whittier. (a natural for a kid from Dallas, S.D. haha)
Here is one opinion of the top 10 in the 19th century. There are just so many to name! Just one example of many, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Longfellow’s lifelong friend did not make this top 10 list.
https://poemanalysis.com/explore-poets/19th-century-american/
Our grandson may read this someday, so I include Whittier’s “Snowbound” here:
https://allpoetry.com/Snowbound,-a-Winter-Idyl
Soli Deo Gloria!