Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Courtship of Miles Standish
    The Courtship of Miles Standish
    The Courtship of Miles Standish
    Ebook92 pages47 minutes

    The Courtship of Miles Standish

    By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    First published in 1858, “The Courtship of Miles Standish” is a narrative poem written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the 'Mayflower', an English ship that transported early Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. The ship has since become an important part of American history and culture, as well as the subject of innumerable works of art, plays, films, poems, songs, books, etc. Beautifully illustrated and written by one of America's most celebrated poets, it is not to be missed by poetry lovers with an interest in early American history. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was an American poet and educator. He was a member of the Fireside Poets of New England as well as the first American translator of Dante Alighieri's “Divine Comedy”. Longfellow's lyric poems became well-known for their musicality and mythology, garnering him significant acclaim both at home and overseas. Other notable works by this poet include: "Paul Revere's Ride", “The Song of Hiawatha”, and “Evangeline”. Read & Co. History is republishing this classic poem now complete with a biography of the author by John William Cousin.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead & Co. History
    Release dateAug 14, 2020
    ISBN9781528790727

    Read more from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Related to The Courtship of Miles Standish

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      What Really Happened At The O.K. Corral

      May 12, 2020

      The most famous gunfight of the old West lives on in movies and in our imagination. “Tombstone” separates the truth from the myth.

      2 min read

    • Article

      'Hamilton' Opens In Puerto Rico With Emotional Performance By Lin-Manuel Miranda: 'I Just Love This Island So Much'

      Jan 14, 2019

      SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - With his body draped in the Puerto Rican flag, his emotions struggling to get through the song titled "Hurricane" and his presence celebrated all across San Juan, "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda returned to the role of A

      4 min read

    • Article

      What’s So Great About Jane?

      Mar 26, 2020

      What’s So Great About Jane?
      3 min read

    • Article

      The World Of Writing

      Apr 1, 2021

      The World Of Writing
      3 min read

    • Article

      Madeleine L'Engle Bio 'Becoming Madeleine' Is Aimed At Middle Readers But Is Also Interesting To Adults

      Mar 6, 2018

      The life of this sensitive, insightful woman – at least, the 40-plus years that the book covers – is as absorbing as a novel.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Reese's Horror Over murder Plot!

      Jul 24, 2022

      Bestselling author Delia Owens is renowned for her mysterious murder novel, Where The Crawdads Sing, which was recently adapted into a film, thanks to actress-turned-producer Reese Witherspoon. But the bright lights of Hollywood have unexpectedly tur

      2 min read

    • Article

      Fighting with Czesław Miłosz

      Oct 24, 2018

      Fighting with Czesław Miłosz
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Politics of Pinocchio

      Sep 12, 2022

      The Politics of Pinocchio
      5 min read

    • Article

      Mussel Memory

      Jun 3, 2021

      Mussel Memory
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Mirror of Erised: On Death, Harry Potter, and Retreating to Childhood Reads

      Aug 16, 2018

      I’d known Monica 20 years when her sister was killed in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident. We spent our childhoods in a tiny Bay Area town that I left at 14. I only went back to visit twice. In the years between, Monica and I sent each other videos,

      4 min read

    • Article

      Some Enchanted Evening

      Mar 1, 2019

      Some Enchanted Evening
      12 min read

    • Article

      Three Authors in Search of Melville

      Sep 25, 2017

      "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method." The post Three Authors in Search of Melville appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Russian Roulette

      Feb 1, 2021

      As a longterm fan of Dostoevsky (and yes, unusually for a 19th century literary novelist, he does have a kind of fan club, many of whom are adolescents high on the thrill of first encountering his freewheeling combo of philosophical pondering and jaz

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Courtship of Miles Standish

    3.5/5

    21 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I found this poem a bit disappointing. I am glad I read it as its plot is part of the local history of Massachusetts, dealing as it does with the Pilgrims first few years in Plymouth, and I have seen parts of the poem quoted many times before (especially Priscilla's remark to John Alden). However, I found the poetry itself lacking a bit compared to other of Longfellow's works.
    • 3/5
      An old book with t the beautiful illustrations by NC Wyeth. Preface by Longfellow who says that he was a direct descendant of Priscilla and John Alden (The subject of the book). Is it verse...is it prose? It is certainly not rhyming verse but obviously designed to be read as verse. An interesting story with the conflict between old friends , Miles Standish the old soldier and John Aldren ...the bookish winner in the contest for Priscilla's hand. I was not especially taken with the poem itself. Ok but didn't especially grab me. But I really bought it for the illustrations and some of these are great...some rather ordinary.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this as an audio book on LibriVox. I appreciated all of the beautiful imagery as well as the many allusions to the Bible.
    • 2/5
      A bit too thick to listen to- better to read the book.

    Book preview

    The Courtship of Miles Standish - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    1.png

    THE

    COURTSHIP OF

    MILES STANDISH

    By

    HENRY

    WADSWORTH

    LONGFELLOW

    Illustrated By

    N. C. WYETH

    First published in 1858

    Copyright © 2020 Read & Co. History

    This edition is published by Read & Co. History,

    an imprint of Read & Co.

    This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any

    way without the express permission of the publisher in writing.

    British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

    A catalogue record for this book is available

    from the British Library.

    Read & Co. is part of Read Books Ltd.

    For more information visit

    www.readandcobooks.co.uk

    Contents

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    I MILES STANDISH

    II LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

    III THE LOVER'S ERRAND

    IV JOHN ALDEN

    V THE SAILING OF THE MAY FLOWER

    VI PRISCILLA

    VII THE MARCH OF MILES STANDISH

    VIII THE SPINNING-WHEEL

    IX THE WEDDING-DAY

    Illustrations

    Long at the Window he Stood, and Wistfully Gazed on the Landscape

    So Through the Plymouth Woods John Alden went on his Errand

    Said in a Tremulous Voice Why Don't you Speak for Yourself, John?

    Near them was Standing an Indian, in Attitude Stern and Defiant

    Eager, with Tearful Eyes, to Say Farewell to the Mayflower, Homeward Bound O'er the Sea, and Leaving them Here in the Desert

    So the Maiden went on, and Little Divined or Imagined what was at Work in his Heart, that Made him so Awkward and Speechless

    Headlong he Leaped on the Boaster, and, Snatching his Knife from its Scabbard

    So Through the Plymouth Woods Passed Onward the Bridal Procession

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine on February 27th, 1807. His mother, Zilpah Wadsworth, was the daughter of a Revolutionary War hero and his father, Stephen Longfellow, was a prominent Portland lawyer and later a member of Congress. As a young man, Longfellow was a voracious reader, and after graduating from Bowdoin College, Longfellow studied modern languages in Europe for three years, before returning returned to Bowdoin to teach them.

    In 1831 Longfellow published his first book, a description of his European travels, titled Overseas. He spent a year in Germany and Switzerland, stricken with grief following the death of his young wife, before taking a position at Harvard in 1836. Over the next five years, he published his first two collection of poems, Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). Many of the poems featured people triumphing over adversity, a theme which chimed with a still-young United States of America.

    In 1843, Longfellow remarried, ushering in the happiest eighteen years of his life. Over the following few years, he penned Evangeline (1847), a book-length poem which proved extremely popular, and secured his reputation as the finest living American poet. In 1854, Longfellow decided to quit teaching to devote all his time to poetry. He published Hiawatha (1855), a long poem about Native American life, and The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems (1858). Both books were immensely successful.

    A few months after the American Civil War began in 1861, Longfellow's wife perished. Profoundly saddened, Longfellow published nothing for the next two years. He found comfort in reading Dante’s Divine Comedy (and would later produce its first American translation). Tales of a Wayside Inn was published in 1863, consolidating further his reputation. When the Civil War ended in 1865, the poet was 58. His most important work was behind him, but he was by now the most famous American of his day. His admirers included Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, and Charles Baudelaire. From 1866 to 1880, Longfellow published seven more books of poetry, and his seventy-fifth birthday in 1882 was celebrated across the country. His health was deteriorating though, and he died the following month, aged 75.

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1