School throws party for Longfellow
By John Quinlan Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, February 24, 2007
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a giant in his day -- a writer more popular and acclaimed than Stephen King, John Grisham and J.K. Rowling put together. A friend of presidents and kings. As acclaimed as Dickens and Twain, his contemporaries (and friends). His day, however, passed more than a few days ago.
But Longfellow is back, the occasion being the 200th anniversary of his birth on Feb. 27, and it is an occasion for celebration in Sioux City.
Longfellow Elementary School, 1800 Sioux Trail, one of more than 50 school so named in the U.S., will hold a birthday party that day complete with cake for all at a schoolwide assembly that afternoon. Principal Mary Motz said some teachers will have their students read and write some poetry. One classroom is going to do a Reader's Theatre presentation on the life of Longfellow.
Americans of a certain age can recall the Longfellow poetry they memorized or read as schoolchildren, the rhythmical passages from "The Village Blacksmith" or "Paul Revere's Ride" or "The Wreck of the Hesperus."
They might recall the epic poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," a poem too epic for most to read all they way through. They can recall lines from "The Arrow and The Song" and "The Children's Hour" -- lines like "I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth, I know not where," or "Into each life some rain must fall." Phrases, at least, that continue to this day as popular jargon, if not the memory of their origin.
So it comes as no surprise that the Longfellow event will be shared by the birthday of a more contemporary writer, children's favorite Dr. Seuss. Seuss's birthday is March 2, but since the kids won't be in school that day, the two birthday bashes are being combined, Motz said.
Longfellow's fall from fashion necessitated the pairing, though the rhythmical nature of both poets' works will bring some overdue attention to the older fellow, she said.
Longfellow simply isn't read much these days.
"You know, a lot of the words in his poems are words that our kids of this day don't quite understand," she said. "So it's a little difficult to teach for elementary students. I think it's enough to understand that poetry is an important form of writing, that it certainly takes different forms, and his is one of those. But there are a lot of different kinds of poetry, and what children can use to express themselves is very nice."
Dr. Steven R. Coyne, professor in the English department at nearby Morningside College, puts it a bit more bluntly.
"I think he may be consigned -- gosh, I hate to say it on his 200th birthday -- I think he's going to be consigned to the dustbin of history," he said, noting that Longfellow these days is more likely to be read as a curiosity than for any other reason.
"He has definitely fallen out of fashion. He rarely appears in any substantial way in anthologies of American literature. He rarely is a subject of courses in American history. He's kind of become a quaint sort of footnote to literary history."
Not being an expert on the poet, Coyne said he wasn't sure of the reasons for Longfellow's decline. One possibility, he said is the growing popularity of the modernist world view which is much more preoccupied with matters of dysfunction and conflict in society than it is with romantic ideals of perfection lost in the past, which seemed to be one of the dimensions of Longfellow's work.
"Insofar as he's invested in the idyllic pseudo-Native American early years of American history, insofar as that's where he's coming from, the developments of the '60s completely debunked that view of American history and gave us a different perspective on the nature of the relationships between the Euro-Americans and the Native Americans -- and it was not one of honor and reverence," Coyne said.
Longfellow's poems did contain some memorable lines, he admitted. "And because it's so highly rhymed and highly rhythmical, it does remind the modern ear of children's literature more than serious adult literature," he said.
Which makes a birthday party pairing with Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel) quite appropriate.
Longfellow first-graders McKenna Deaton and Jestin Cam, both 6, said they enjoy some of Longfellow's poems that they learned from their teacher, Deb Ammons, a champion of the 19th century poet. And McKenna had no trouble reciting from memory her take on those famous lines from a Longfellow poem that has survived as a nursery rhyme: "There was a little girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid!"
The children explained that Longfellow became famous because he wrote poetry that the people liked back then. They recalled the tragic deaths of Longfellow's two wives, his career as a teacher and raising his children alone, though there was some question about just how old he was when he died. He was 75. Not 200. That's how old he would be if still alive, Justin stressed.
McKenna said her brother writes poetry. "I like 'roses are red and violets are blue,'" Jestin opined.
Jestin and McKenna said they would like to write poetry but they don't care to have a school named Cam or Deaton.
What would they like to have named after them?
"There was a restaurant and it was named Kenner, and that's my nickname," McKenna said. Case closed.
Both knew their teacher's favorite poem is "The Children's Hour." And they seem to have picked up Mrs. Ammons' enthusiasm for Longfellow. Yet when asked if Mrs. Ammon knew more of his poems, McKenna responded: "Just two."
No, Ammons said. She actually knows a few more.
"You know, you were asking whether they liked poetry or not, and we do read a lot of poetry," Ammons said. "But I guess I need to use that word more often because they don't think of it as poetry. We do a lot of rhyming. Actually, Jack Prelutsky is one of our favorite poets because he is so funny."
Longfellow School is among the oldest in the school district. So it is no surprise it was named after a fellow, also an educator, who was immensely popular when it was built in 1893 -- 11 years after his death.
In recognition of Longfellow, a display case outside the school office features some of his books and memorabilia of his life and times. Included is a book titled "The Spanish Student," published in 1893, which someone found at an auction a few years ago and donated to the school.
A display case item catching the attention of most students is a tickleknocker, an elongated instrument used by teachers in the 1800s with a knob on one end used to rap the wrists of naughty boys and a feather on the other end to get the attention of mischievous girls.
Tickleknockers, it seems, are less known these days than even Longfellow's poems.
But Longfellow is back, the occasion being the 200th anniversary of his birth on Feb. 27, and it is an occasion for celebration in Sioux City.
Longfellow Elementary School, 1800 Sioux Trail, one of more than 50 school so named in the U.S., will hold a birthday party that day complete with cake for all at a schoolwide assembly that afternoon. Principal Mary Motz said some teachers will have their students read and write some poetry. One classroom is going to do a Reader's Theatre presentation on the life of Longfellow.
Americans of a certain age can recall the Longfellow poetry they memorized or read as schoolchildren, the rhythmical passages from "The Village Blacksmith" or "Paul Revere's Ride" or "The Wreck of the Hesperus."
They might recall the epic poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," a poem too epic for most to read all they way through. They can recall lines from "The Arrow and The Song" and "The Children's Hour" -- lines like "I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth, I know not where," or "Into each life some rain must fall." Phrases, at least, that continue to this day as popular jargon, if not the memory of their origin.
So it comes as no surprise that the Longfellow event will be shared by the birthday of a more contemporary writer, children's favorite Dr. Seuss. Seuss's birthday is March 2, but since the kids won't be in school that day, the two birthday bashes are being combined, Motz said.
Longfellow's fall from fashion necessitated the pairing, though the rhythmical nature of both poets' works will bring some overdue attention to the older fellow, she said.
Longfellow simply isn't read much these days.
"You know, a lot of the words in his poems are words that our kids of this day don't quite understand," she said. "So it's a little difficult to teach for elementary students. I think it's enough to understand that poetry is an important form of writing, that it certainly takes different forms, and his is one of those. But there are a lot of different kinds of poetry, and what children can use to express themselves is very nice."
Dr. Steven R. Coyne, professor in the English department at nearby Morningside College, puts it a bit more bluntly.
"I think he may be consigned -- gosh, I hate to say it on his 200th birthday -- I think he's going to be consigned to the dustbin of history," he said, noting that Longfellow these days is more likely to be read as a curiosity than for any other reason.
"He has definitely fallen out of fashion. He rarely appears in any substantial way in anthologies of American literature. He rarely is a subject of courses in American history. He's kind of become a quaint sort of footnote to literary history."
Not being an expert on the poet, Coyne said he wasn't sure of the reasons for Longfellow's decline. One possibility, he said is the growing popularity of the modernist world view which is much more preoccupied with matters of dysfunction and conflict in society than it is with romantic ideals of perfection lost in the past, which seemed to be one of the dimensions of Longfellow's work.
"Insofar as he's invested in the idyllic pseudo-Native American early years of American history, insofar as that's where he's coming from, the developments of the '60s completely debunked that view of American history and gave us a different perspective on the nature of the relationships between the Euro-Americans and the Native Americans -- and it was not one of honor and reverence," Coyne said.
Longfellow's poems did contain some memorable lines, he admitted. "And because it's so highly rhymed and highly rhythmical, it does remind the modern ear of children's literature more than serious adult literature," he said.
Which makes a birthday party pairing with Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel) quite appropriate.
Longfellow first-graders McKenna Deaton and Jestin Cam, both 6, said they enjoy some of Longfellow's poems that they learned from their teacher, Deb Ammons, a champion of the 19th century poet. And McKenna had no trouble reciting from memory her take on those famous lines from a Longfellow poem that has survived as a nursery rhyme: "There was a little girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid!"
The children explained that Longfellow became famous because he wrote poetry that the people liked back then. They recalled the tragic deaths of Longfellow's two wives, his career as a teacher and raising his children alone, though there was some question about just how old he was when he died. He was 75. Not 200. That's how old he would be if still alive, Justin stressed.
McKenna said her brother writes poetry. "I like 'roses are red and violets are blue,'" Jestin opined.
Jestin and McKenna said they would like to write poetry but they don't care to have a school named Cam or Deaton.
What would they like to have named after them?
"There was a restaurant and it was named Kenner, and that's my nickname," McKenna said. Case closed.
Both knew their teacher's favorite poem is "The Children's Hour." And they seem to have picked up Mrs. Ammons' enthusiasm for Longfellow. Yet when asked if Mrs. Ammon knew more of his poems, McKenna responded: "Just two."
No, Ammons said. She actually knows a few more.
"You know, you were asking whether they liked poetry or not, and we do read a lot of poetry," Ammons said. "But I guess I need to use that word more often because they don't think of it as poetry. We do a lot of rhyming. Actually, Jack Prelutsky is one of our favorite poets because he is so funny."
Longfellow School is among the oldest in the school district. So it is no surprise it was named after a fellow, also an educator, who was immensely popular when it was built in 1893 -- 11 years after his death.
In recognition of Longfellow, a display case outside the school office features some of his books and memorabilia of his life and times. Included is a book titled "The Spanish Student," published in 1893, which someone found at an auction a few years ago and donated to the school.
A display case item catching the attention of most students is a tickleknocker, an elongated instrument used by teachers in the 1800s with a knob on one end used to rap the wrists of naughty boys and a feather on the other end to get the attention of mischievous girls.
Tickleknockers, it seems, are less known these days than even Longfellow's poems.
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jestin wrote on Dec 15, 2008 6:22 PM:
jim wrote on Feb 24, 2007 10:44 AM: