[Illustration] THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW _ILLUSTRATED_ New York 1889 * * * * * INTRODUCTION. "Norman's Woe" is the picturesque name of a rocky headland, reef, and islet on the coast of Massachusetts, between Gloucester and Magnolia. The special disaster in which the name originated had long been lost from memory when the poet Longfellow chose the spot as a background for his description of the "Wreck of the Hesperus," and gave it an association that it will scarcely lose while the English language endures. Nor does it matter to the legend lover that the ill-fated schooner was not "gored" by the "cruel rocks" just at this point, but nearer to the Gloucester coast. The poet has done many things well; and he has done few things better than this ballad in the quaint, old-time style, with its nervous energy and sonorous rhythm, wherein one hears the trampling of waves and crashing of timbers. Indeed, it is so well done, by art concealing art, that much of its force and beauty escape the careless reader; whereas, the thoughtful one finds in it an ever-increasing charm. It is worth noting that love, the usual ballad _motif_, is absent and is not missed. The almost human struggles and sufferings of the vessel, and the contrast between the daring, scornful skipper, and the gentle, devout maiden, in the midst of the terrors of storm and wreck, furnish abundant emotion and imagery; in truth, many of the lines are literally packed with color, movement, and meaning. * * * * * ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. WINTHROP PIERCE, EDMUND H. GARRETT, J.D. WOODWARD, W.F. HALSALL, W.L. TAYLOR, A. BUHLER, H.P. BARNES, A.J. LEWIS. DRAWN AND ENGRAVED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF GEORGE T. ANDREW. THIS EDITION OF THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS IS PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH MESSRS. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., THE AUTHORIZED PUBLISHERS OF MR. LONGFELLOW'S WORKS. [Illustration: The Wreck of the Hesperus] [Illustration] It was the schooner Hesperus That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper had taken his little daughter To bear him company. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] "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.