April 2020 Read: Tales of a Wayside Inn, Part 1

[Joanna]

As Allyson noted, this poem is divided into 3 parts. Rather than worry about separte threads for spoilers and non-spoilers, I thought we could just have a thread for each part. (We'll see how it works anyway!) Everyone can read at their own pace, but we will aim to be finished by the end of the month. :)

[Emma | meadowroselibrary]

Sounds great! :)

[Joanna]

"The jovial rhymes, that still remain,
Writ near a century ago,
By the great Major Molineaux,
Whom Hawthorne has immortal made."

Ahh now I've got to read My Kinsman, Major Molineux!

[Joanna]

Here's another source for anyone who doesn't own a printed copy of this poem...

http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poe...

[Marian]

I just realized - the audiobook I linked to the other day is only the first part! It looks like the Project Gutenberg version doesn't include parts 2 and 3. Sorry for spreading any confusion (I was definitely confused, haha).

[Ruth]

Hi Marian
That's alright, sometimes it is a bit confusing.
Either way, I plan to sit back with my cup of
coffee, close my eyes and enjoy the experience
of Longfellow poem. Bliss! 😌☕

[Emma | meadowroselibrary]

Marian wrote: "I just realized - the audiobook I linked to the other day is only the first part! It looks like the Project Gutenberg version doesn't include parts 2 and 3. Sorry for spreading any confusion (I was..."

Thanks for letting us know! That's what I've been reading from! 🤐😂

[Joanna]

I was just looking at the notes on Tales of a Wayside Inn in the back of my book and found some very interesting facts. I knew the Inn was a real place, but just learned that each of the guests were real as well! The musician is Ole Bull, a Norwegian virtuoso violinist, the Spanish Jew is Israel (actually Isaac) Edrehi, a Morroccan scholar, whom Longfellow says he has seen as he painted him. The poet was T. W. Parsons, the Sicilian is Luigi Monti, an intimate friend of Longfellow's who taught Italian under him. The Professor is Daniel Treadwell, an inventor who also had an interest in theology, and the Student is Henry Ware Wales...I can't find too much about him except that he died fairly young and willed a large number of books to Harvard. You can find pictures of all them except the Spanish Jew if you Google their names!

[Ruth]

Hi Meg,
I had started this poem earlier and looking into the background information about this poem as well, including the Inn, which is said is to be haunted.
As you mentioned that these are actual men
adds an interesting dimension taken from Longfellow's life. These men, from different parts of the world, meeting at this Inn clearly made such an impression on Longfellow to memorialize them in a poem.

[Ruth]

I love these lines, the true soul of a reader.
"A Student of old books and days,
(view spoiler)[Books were his passion and delight,
And in his upper room at home
Stood many a rare and sumptuous tome,
In vellum bound, with gold bedight,
Great volumes garmented in white,
Recalling Florence, Pisa, Rome" (hide spoiler)]

I must read this again in autumn.

[Ruth]

Meg wrote: ""The jovial rhymes, that still remain,
Writ near a century ago,
By the great Major Molineaux,
Whom Hawthorne has immortal made."

Ahh now I've got to read My Kinsman, Major Molineux!"

Ditto. I am surprised you haven't read it yet.
You are light years ahead of me.

[Margaret]

Interesting to hear that the guests of the Inn were real people and that the aim. Itself was a real place, and possibly haunted! I like the Student best! I read was thinking it might be Longfellow himself, but now I've been corrected! Such gatherings of guests at a wayside inn reminds me of Thomas Hardy's stories,

[Joanna]

Ruth wrote: "I love these lines, the true soul of a reader...."

I loved those lines too. :)

[Joanna]

Ruth wrote: "Meg wrote: ""The jovial rhymes, that still remain,
Writ near a century ago,
By the great Major Molineaux,
Whom Hawthorne has immortal made."

Ahh now I've got to read [book:My Kinsman, Major Molin..."

I'm actually relatively new to Hawthorne's writings...I avoided him for years because of a false impression I'd got of him from somewhere, I have no idea where! Needless to say I love him now. :)

[Joanna]

Margaret wrote: "Interesting to hear that the guests of the Inn were real people and that the aim. Itself was a real place, and possibly haunted! I like the Student best! I read was thinking it might be Longfellow ..."

The Student reminded me of Longfellow too! He was well-travelled, fluent in at least 8 languages, and the description of his personality seems to fit as well!

[Joanna]

Another interesting fact since Ruth mentioned that this is almost a New England version of The Canterbury Tales...Longfellow was originally going to call this The Sudbury Tales, but changed his mind because he thought it would sound too much like The Canterbury Tales!

[Doreen]

Well better late than never I just started this one today as I'm also juggling two other books. It is quite a lovely change of pace and I'm enjoying it very much so far.

[Joanna]

Doreen wrote: "Well better late than never I just started this one today as I'm also juggling two other books. It is quite a lovely change of pace and I'm enjoying it very much so far."

No worries, Doreen! I'm juggling a few books right now as well so I know how it is! :D Happy reading!

[Joanna]

Started on The Saga of King Olaf (the Musician's first tale) and was just doing a little research about it...apparently it was Hawthorne's favorite of the tales. Theodore Roosevelt also loved it and wrote that "if a boy or girl likes [the Saga] well enough to learn most of it by heart and feel the spirit of it, just as they ought to like Julia Ward Howe's battle hymn, they will always have in them something to which an appeal for brave action can be made."

[Ruth]

Hi Meg,
On that side of history, if I were in the Tavern and
the Landlord began his Tale of Paul Revere's Ride 🕯
I would abandon my discourse with friends and listen
at the edge of my seat, especially with the line
"The fate of a nation was riding that night" 🐎
This is tale is so engaging!

[Doreen]

Ruth wrote: "Hi Meg,
On that side of history, if I were in the Tavern and
the Landlord began his Tale of Paul Revere's Ride 🕯
I would abandon my discourse with friends and listen
at the edge of my seat, especi..."

Oh Ruth I live in Boston and have visited the Paul Revere House several times. You would love it there.

[Ruth]

Hi Doreen,
I am eager to visit Boston and see Paul Revere's House-
to live in New England for that matter; teeming with
history, sites, literature and autumn-
what richness! 😍

...followed by Longfellow's Maine.🤗

[Joanna]

Ruth wrote: "Hi Meg,
On that side of history, if I were in the Tavern and
the Landlord began his Tale of Paul Revere's Ride 🕯
I would abandon my discourse with friends and listen
at the edge of my seat, especi..."

Oh yes wouldn't it be something to be sitting there listening to them! I also like the picture of Revere stamping impatiently by his horse, waiting for the signal...

[Ruth]

Dear Miss Meg,
Why didn't you warn me about the need of
a box of tissues when reading
The Student's Tale? Such a lovely poem
My heart sank three times!
I like the moral at the end of the poem,
I wasn't expecting that.

"One summer morning, when the sun was hot,
Weary with labor in his garden-plot,"
That's me in Texas!!! 😄

[Joanna]

Ruth wrote: "Dear Miss Meg,
Why didn't you warn me about the need of
a box of tissues when reading
The Student's Tale? Such a lovely poem
My heart sank three times!
I like the moral at the end of the poem,
I wa..."

Ah yes I get choked up reading that one too. So beautiful yet heart-breaking. Longfellow took this story from The Decameron. I believe Tennyson also wrote a poem about it.

I was just thinking about you, wondering what your garden must be like now. :) The snow is still slowly retreating from mine. At the moment I am weary from dealing with a flooding well house and basement from bedtime last night until 3:30 this morning...much less poetical. Lol!

[Ruth]

🙉-Oh Meg! The garden lies somewhere between hard work and a miracle from God.😓😒
Thanks for the The Decameron
reference, I will look it up.
😮-Does that happen every year?

[Joanna]

Ruth wrote: "🙉-Oh Meg! The garden lies somewhere between hard work and a miracle from God.😓😒
Thanks for the The Decameron
reference, I will look it up.
😮-"

Isn't that exactly what gardens are? You express it beautifully! :) I was just out to mine and found a few tulips peeping up through the snow already! There is a lot of cleaning up to be done though.
We do get flooded almost every year. 6 months of snow melts away in a month, plus heavy rain...not a good combination! :0

[Margaret]

Ruth wrote: "Hi Meg,
On that side of history, if I were in the Tavern and
the Landlord began his Tale of Paul Revere's Ride 🕯
I would abandon my discourse with friends and listen
at the edge of my seat, especi..."

Ruth, " The Tale of Paul Revere's Ride" was one of the poems my grandfather in Maine would recite to us, and we would always be spellbound!

[Margaret]

Hi, everyone... I just finished "King Robert of Sicily" and this would be my favourite of the tales so far! What a wonderful storyteller Longfellow was!
(Meg, I hope you will not have recurrence of the flooding this year! What a night you would had!)

[Joanna]

Margaret wrote: "Hi, everyone... I just finished "King Robert of Sicily" and this would be my favourite of the tales so far! What a wonderful storyteller Longfellow was!
(Meg, I hope you will not have recurrence o..."

That's a good one Margaret. :) I couldn't help thinking about Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper while I was reading it!
Yes it was quite the night...the sump pump in the well house has to be positioned just so or it won't kick on and off by itself. It took me all that time to get it right!

[Ruth]

Meg wrote: "Ruth wrote: "🙉-Oh Meg! The garden lies somewhere between hard work and a miracle from God.😓😒
Thanks for the The Decameron
reference, I will look it up.
😮-"

Isn't that exactly what gar..."

Hi Meg,
The some of my message disappeared,
😣-How vexing! It happens whenever I recommend books with messages.
The rest of it was,
"Good God! Meg, you poor dear. You must be exhausted. I am sorry that happened to you."

How do you manage with snow melt and the
rain season?


About the garden, I am glad it came out that way.
The lantanas are overtaking the fig tree and the Maid of Orleans jasmine is creeping in every direction plus endless weeding- that is on one side.
Meg could you please take a photo of
of your peeking tulip, I am curious to see how it looks.

[Ruth]

Margaret wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Hi Meg,
On that side of history, if I were in the Tavern and
the Landlord began his Tale of Paul Revere's Ride 🕯
I would abandon my discourse with friends and listen
at the edge of my..."

Hi Margaret,
That is such a wonderful memory. I would been spoiled by that, forsaking play time for a
storytelling grandfather. I guess that is why I am
drawn to Longfellow, he reminds me of a relative
sharing his poetic tales.

[Doreen]

Boy am I way behind everyone. I'm just on the Musician playing his beautiful instrument. I love the way it's described.

[Margaret]

Doreen, I was just re-reading the introductory verses last evening and got stopped there, relishing how beautiful they were. I was enjoying that experience so much that i forgot that i was supposed to be reading further into the tales!! So I am. Not very far along either! ..
And Ruth, wouldn't it have been great to have Longfellow as a grandfather and hear the poet read his own poetry aloud on an evening or long afternoon?

[Joanna]

Ruth wrote: "Meg wrote: "Ruth wrote: "🙉-Oh Meg! The garden lies somewhere between hard work and a miracle from God.😓😒
Thanks for the The Decameron
reference, I will look it up."

Ruth, I just replied to this in the Chat by the Wayside thread as I thought our garden discussions would fit better there (I know, I'm the one that started it...lol!) :)

[Joanna]

Doreen wrote: "Boy am I way behind everyone. I'm just on the Musician playing his beautiful instrument. I love the way it's described."

Yes isn't that part grand! I play the violin so this has a special beauty to me...also I'm part Swedish and love Nordic folk music and legends. :)

"Last the Musician, as he stood
Illumined by that fire of wood;
Fair-haired, blue-eyed, his aspect blithe,
His figure tall and straight and lithe,
And every feature of his face
Revealing his Norwegian race;
A radiance, streaming from within,
Around his eyes and forehead beamed,
The Angel with the violin,
Painted by Raphael, he seemed.
He lived in that ideal world
Whose language is not speech, but song;
Around him evermore the throng
Of elves and sprites their dances whirled;
The Strömkarl sang, the cataract hurled
Its headlong waters from the height;
And mingled in the wild delight
The scream of sea-birds in their flight,
The rumor of the forest trees,
The plunge of the implacable seas,
The tumult of the wind at night,
Voices of eld, like trumpets blowing,
Old ballads, and wild melodies
Through mist and darkness pouring forth,
Like Elivagar's river flowing
Out of the glaciers of the North."

[Allyson]

Doreen wrote: "Boy am I way behind everyone. I'm just on the Musician playing his beautiful instrument. I love the way it's described."

That's better than me! I just started it yesterday!! 😬 Guess I should a move on!! If any of you have read the Rangers Apprentice series you would understand my distraction, though!😉

[Emma | meadowroselibrary]

I have no excuse for being so behind 😂

[Allyson]

Well you could always use the annoying\distracting little sister excuse 😉

[Emma | meadowroselibrary]

That's a good one I'll use that excuse :D

[Allyson]

Emma wrote: "That's a good one I'll use that excuse :D"

😋

[Ruth]

Allyson and Emma (the N.E.L. sisters)
You remind me of my younger
sister and myself.
The pair of you are entertaining,
I am glad you joined the group.😄

[Emma | meadowroselibrary]

Thanks! We're glad too. :)
You should see us in real life! :D

[Ruth]

Margaret wrote: "Doreen, I was just re-reading the introductory verses last evening and got stopped there, relishing how beautiful they were. I was enjoying that experience so much that i forgot that i was supposed..."

Hi Margaret,
Yes it would. I wonder if he told stories to his children?

You said the operative phrase,
"Relish in the experience"
We are experiencing what fine literature,
beautifully written poetry is and how it effects
us. When we stop or pause at certain parts,
the author's thoughts have reached us,
we see the world through their eyes and are
guided by their thoughts, which
enhances and enriches our views of the world.
As we are reading, each at our own pace, and
commenting on the various lines and tales,
everyone effected in various ways and
observing how others are too. The enjoyment
is drawing us together and as a collective we
are celebrating the author and their work.
That is what makes reading memorable and
we are all the better for it.

I am presently on The Musician's Tale,
Queen Sigrid has a bit of the Lady MacBeth
about her.

[Joanna]

Beautifully said, Ruth! :) This book has been on my to-read list for a while...I thought some of you might be interested as well:
Dear Mr. Longfellow: Letters to and from the Children's Poet

[Margaret]

Thank you for this book recommendation, Meg! I am eager to read it!! And, yes, beautifully said, Ruth!!!!

[Ruth]

Thank you ladies.
Grand! Thank you, Meg, for this recommendation,
this will be a delightful read.
Now to find a copy.🤔

[Ruth]

Ruth wrote: "Margaret wrote: "Doreen, I was just re-reading the introductory verses last evening and got stopped there, relishing how beautiful they were. I was enjoying that experience so much that i forgot th..."

Hi Meg,
This is handsomely written.

"Old ballads, and wild melodies
Through mist and darkness pouring forth,
Like Elivagar's river flowing
Out of the glaciers of the North."

I never thought of music like that,
pour forth and flowing- it precisely how it is.
I will remember this the next time I listen
to Classical music. 🎶

[Ruth]

Margaret wrote: "Doreen, I was just re-reading the introductory verses last evening and got stopped there, relishing how beautiful they were. I was enjoying that experience so much that i forgot that i was supposed..."

Hi Margaret,
Yes, that is a lovely thought.

[Ruth]

Marian wrote: "I just realized - the audiobook I linked to the other day is only the first part! It looks like the Project Gutenberg version doesn't include parts 2 and 3. Sorry for spreading any confusion (I was..."

Hi Marian,
How are you enjoying the poem and tales?
What part have you reached?
I am curious to read your thoughts.