Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) - photo 1
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) - photo 2

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Starting price
£ 100
Auction dateClassic
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 1108931
Lot 132 | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Autograph manuscript signed ('Henry W. Longfellow') of his poem, 'A Psalm of Life', 25 October 1864
Fair copy of the complete poem on 3½ pages, 224 x 177mm, bifolium; tipped on to an album leaf; [with] Harriet Martineau (1802-1876). Autograph letter signed to Mr [C.A.] Murray, indistinctly dated, arranging various visits, 2 pages, tipped onto verso of the same leaf. Provenance: A note above the Longfellow manuscript describes it as 'sent by him to Lady Murray' (presumably Edith, Lady Murray, 2nd wife of the diplomat and author Sir Charles Augustus Murray); Sotheby's, 20 & 21 July 1981, lot 539.

Autograph manuscript of 'the most popular poem ever written in English'.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

The poem, often as here subtitled 'What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist', was written in response to the death of Longfellow's first wife, Mary Storer Potter and was first published anonymously in the October 1838 issue of The Knickerbocker. It has been described by the Longfellow scholar Robert L. Gale as 'the most popular poem ever written in English', and lines such as 'footprints on the sands of time' have entered the lexicon.

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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