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Hard to Believe We Began the 20th Century Like This.. - Debbie Guzzi's Blog

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Deborah Guzzi writes full time. Her third book, The Hurricane is available through Prolific Press. https://prolificpress.com/bookstore/prolific-books-c-12/the-hurricane-by-deborah-guzzi-p-151.html Her poetry appears in Allegro, Artificium, Shooter, & The Foxglove Journal in the UK, Subterranean Blue, Existere, The Ekphrastic Review, Scarlet Leaf Review & Subterranean Blue Poetry, Canada - Tincture, Australia - mgv2>publishing, France Cha: Asian Review, China - Vine Leaves Literary Journal, Australia - The Scarlet Leaf Review - Greece, Ribbons, pioneertown, Sounding Review, Bacopa Literary Review, The Aurorean, Liquid Imagination, The Tishman Review, Page & Spine & others in the USA. 

Hard to Believe We Began the 20th Century Like This..

Blog Posted:12/9/2012 7:40:00 AM
Here's is another author that i was lulled to sleep with and this write is also permantly impressed in my psyche.







English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics.  1909–14.

788.  The Children’s Hour

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)


BETWEEN the dark and the daylight,
  When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,
  That is known as the Children’s Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me        5
  The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
  And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
  Descending the broad hall stair,        10
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
  And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
  Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together        15
  To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
  A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
  They enter my castle wall!        20

They climb up into my turret
  O’er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
  They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,        25
  Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
  In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
  Because you have scaled the wall,        30
Such an old mustache as I am
  Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
  And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon        35
  In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
  Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
  And moulder in dust away!        40



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Macmillan Avatar
Cyndi
Macmillan
Date: 12/10/2012 10:12:00 AM
How absolutely lovely! Yes, I've read this many times and each time I am newly smitten. When I visit used book stores and search through the poetry sections (something I rarely get to do now lol), I must force myself away from the dear and dead poets and venture towards the unknown, the local poets who perhaps self-published or some of our lesser known national poets. It is difficult to tear myself from such gems as these, the recognized rhymes and sentimental art which made me a fan of poetry in the first place and encouraged my pen. Thanks for sharing, sis. The place is a mess, Verity has a mild cold and I'll let you know as soon as your package arrives. Crazy cuckoo here! xox
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Guzzi Avatar
Debbie
Guzzi
Date: 12/9/2012 1:01:00 PM
Yes Phyll it brings back so many loving memories..the eternal father & child imagery!
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Guzzi Avatar
Debbie
Guzzi
Date: 12/9/2012 1:00:00 PM
Oh Andie it was my Mom's era..though I do have a good bit of it memorized from her re-telling so often!
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Babcock Avatar
Phyllis
Babcock
Date: 12/9/2012 12:22:00 PM
Nice to read this poem from days past. love phyl
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Dietrich Avatar
Andrea
Dietrich
Date: 12/9/2012 11:07:00 AM
I had never seen this before, Debs. It was not quite in my school year. heehee. I really enjoyed this one. Such imagination Longfellow had.
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Guzzi Avatar
Debbie
Guzzi
Date: 12/9/2012 8:14:00 AM
Try Paul Revers Ride & Evangline Jack many children where take both histtory and geography by reciting Longfellow Hiawatha too!
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Guzzi Avatar
Debbie
Guzzi
Date: 12/9/2012 8:11:00 AM
Who else do you like David?
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Williams Avatar
David
Williams
Date: 12/9/2012 7:58:00 AM
Debbie yep very good, but still Wordsworth for me...David
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Horne Avatar
Jack
Horne
Date: 12/9/2012 7:53:00 AM
I didn't know this one, Debs, so thanks for posting. I must check out more of his work
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Guzzi Avatar
Debbie
Guzzi
Date: 12/9/2012 7:42:00 AM
When my mother went to school, this was English, children learned meter by recitation, they didn't get to be adults without understanding what meter was? The concept of meter, can be tiaght through math, music, and writing!
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