{"id":775,"date":"2010-12-22T15:01:33","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T15:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=775"},"modified":"2023-12-08T01:45:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T01:45:12","slug":"the-three-kings-by-henry-wadsworth-longfellow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/the-three-kings-by-henry-wadsworth-longfellow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three Kings By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Three Kings<\/h2>\n

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<\/em><\/p>\n

Three Kings came riding from far away,
\nMelchior and Gaspar and Baltasar;
\nThree Wise Men out of the East were they,
\nAnd they traveled by night and they slept by day,
\nFor their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.<\/p>\n

The star was so beautiful, large and clear,
\nThat all the other stars of the sky
\nBecame a white mist in the atmosphere;
\nAnd by this they knew that the coming was near
\nOf the Prince foretold in the prophecy.<\/p>\n

Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,
\nThree caskets of gold with golden keys;
\nTheir robes were of crimson silk, with rows
\nOf bells and pomegranates and furbelows,
\nTheir turbans like blossoming almond-trees.<\/p>\n

And so the Three Kings rode into the West,
\nThrough the dusk of night over hill and dell,
\nAnd sometimes they nodded with beard on breast,
\nAnd sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,
\nWith the people they met at some wayside well.<\/p>\n

“Of the child that is born,” said Baltasar,
\n“Good people, I pray you, tell us the news;
\nFor we in the East have seen his star,
\nAnd have ridden fast, and have ridden far,
\nTo find and worship the King of the Jews.”<\/p>\n

And the people answered, “You ask in vain;
\nWe know of no king but Herod the Great!”
\nThey thought the Wise Men were men insane,
\nAs they spurred their horses across the plain
\nLike riders in haste who cannot wait.<\/p>\n

And when they came to Jerusalem,
\nHerod the Great, who had heard this thing,
\nSent for the Wise Men and questioned them;
\nAnd said, “Go down unto Bethlehem,
\nAnd bring me tidings of this new king.”<\/p>\n

So they rode away, and the star stood still,
\nThe only one in the gray of morn;
\nYes, it stopped, it stood still of its own free will,
\nRight over Bethlehem on the hill,
\nThe city of David where Christ was born.<\/p>\n

And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard,
\nThrough the silent street, till their horses turned
\nAnd neighed as they entered the great inn-yard;
\nBut the windows were closed, and the doors were barred,
\nAnd only a light in the stable burned.<\/p>\n

And cradled there in the scented hay,
\nIn the air made sweet by the breath of kine,
\nThe little child in the manger lay,
\nThe Child that would be King one day
\nOf a kingdom not human, but divine.<\/p>\n

His mother, Mary of Nazareth,
\nSat watching beside his place of rest,
\nWatching the even flow of his breath,
\nFor the joy of life and the terror of death
\nWere mingled together in her breast.<\/p>\n

They laid their offerings at his feet:
\nThe gold was their tribute to a King;
\nThe frankincense, with its odor sweet,
\nWas for the Priest, the Paraclete;
\nThe myrrh for the body’s burying.<\/p>\n

And the mother wondered and bowed her head,
\nAnd sat as still as a statue of stone;
\nHer heart was troubled yet comforted,
\nRemembering what the angel had said
\nOf an endless reign and of David’s throne.<\/p>\n

Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,
\nWith a clatter of hoofs in proud array;
\nBut they went not back to Herod the Great,
\nFor they knew his malice and feared his hate,
\nAnd returned to their homes by another way.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was the most popular American poet of his day. He achieved widespread fame with works like “Paul Revere’s Ride,” The Song of Hiawatha, and “The Wreck of the Hesperus” that idealized American history and landscapes. Though born in Portland, Maine, Longfellow spent much of his youth traveling Europe. These early travels inspired a lifelong interest in European cultures and traditions which he incorporated into his poetry. After returning to America, Longfellow accepted a professorship at Harvard College, becoming one of the first American academics focused on developing a genuinely American national literature. Known for his flowing rhyme schemes, use of folklore themes, and melancholic tone, Longfellow created accessible works that resonated powerfully with the public during his lifetime and after his death from peritonitis at age 75. More than just a famous name, Longfellow left an enduring mark on American letters through poems that gave a new nation myths and stories of its own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar; Three Wise Men out of the East were they, And they traveled by night and they slept by day, For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star. The star was so beautiful, large and clear, That…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,480],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1800s","category-henry-wadsworth-longfellow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}