Listen and Learn:
Consider:
 How do you think mythological figures can teach us about being
human?
 Can images from nature do the same?
Endymion
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Endymion is a figure in Greek mythology who was known for his desire for
perpetual sleep. According to myth, Diana, a goddess associated with the
moon, loved to gaze upon Endymion’s beauty while he slept.
POETRY STRUCTURE:
Poems are often divided into stanzas,
or groups of lines. How many stanzas
does the poem have? What is similar
about the structure of all the stanzas
in this poem? (Hint: Think about how
long the lines are and which ones
rhyme.)
IMAGERY
Poets use imagery—language that
appeals to the senses—to create a
vivid experience for the reader. Look
at stanza 1. To what does the poet
compare the rays of the moon? What
other visual imagery does he poet use
in the first two stanzas?
SYMBOL
A symbol is an object or action that
represents something else that might
be more complex. In “Endymion,”
Longfellow uses Diana’s kiss as a
symbol. Look at lines 9-16. What does
Diana’s kiss symbolize, and in what
ways?
1
The rising moon has hid the stars;
Her level rays, like golden bars,
Lie on the landscape green,
With shadows brown between.
5
And silver white the river gleams,
As if Diana, in her dreams
Had dropt her silver bow
Upon the meadows low.
On such a tranquil night as this,
10 She woke Endymion with a kiss,
When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.
Like Diana’s kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;
15
Nor voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.
It comes,--the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity,-In silence and alone
20
To seek the elected one.
RHYME SCHEME:
Rhyme scheme, the pattern of
rhymes in a poem, is written as a
string of letters, with each letter
representing an end sound. For
example, the rhyme scheme of the
stanzas in “Endymion” is aabb (deep,
sleep; eyes, lies). Sometimes, the
lines do not rhyme perfectly but are
instead very close in sound. This is
called half rhyme or slant rhyme.
Which pairs of end words show
examples of half rhyme?
It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep
Are Life’s oblivion, the soul’s sleep,
And kisses the closed eyes
Of him who slumbering lies.
25 O weary hearts! O slumbering eyes!
O drooping souls, whose destinies
Are fraught with fear and pain,
Ye shall be loved again!
No one is so accursed by fate,
30 No one so utterly desolate,
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own.
MOOD:
Mood is the general atmosphere the
poet creates for the reader. How
does the poet create a mood of
reassurance and hope in lines 29-32?
TONE:
The tone of a poem is the poet’s
attitude toward the subject of the
poem. If the subject of “Endymion” is
love, what tone does the poem
convey about this subject? What
words or other features help to show
the tone?
Responds,--as if with unseen wings,
An angel touched its quivering strings:
35
And whispers, in its song,
“Where hast thou stayed so long?”