A Woman by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

She is the unnamed woman from the New Testament Gospels (Matthew 9, Mark 5, Luke 8) who endured a chronic hemorrhage for twelve years. She believed that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus's robe, she would be healed — and according to the story, she was. Longfellow gives her a voice, allowing us to hear her innermost thoughts just before she reaches out.

She isn't confessing a sin in the traditional sense. Instead, she's expressing regret for her own hopeful presumption — for daring to believe that she, someone seen as unclean and marginalized, could be healed just by touching a holy man's clothing. This reveals her profound humility and her understanding of her position as a social and religious outsider.

The brevity is intentional. Longfellow captures a single moment inside the woman's mind — the thought that races through her just before she takes action. Lengthening it would lessen the impact. The conciseness reflects the immediate, all-or-nothing quality of her faith.

It means healed, but in the most complete sense. In the biblical context, the Greek word used is sozo, which encompasses physical healing, spiritual salvation, and social restoration simultaneously. Longfellow's choice of "whole" instead of "healed" or "cured" preserves all those dimensions.

Sure! Here's the humanized version:

Yes, in the way Browning popularized. Longfellow allows a character from a different time and place to express herself in the first person. Unlike a typical Browning monologue, there isn’t a listener present — this is simply an inner reflection, which adds to its sense of intimacy and openness.

Christus: A Mystery (1872) is Longfellow's most ambitious religious work—a three-part dramatic poem that explores the early Christian era, the medieval church, and the Puritan period in America. Completing it took him decades. "A Woman" is one of the shorter lyric pieces woven into this larger narrative, offering a voice to characters who appear only briefly in scripture.

The poem uses free verse, lacking a consistent rhyme scheme or meter. The lines are short and fragmented, reflecting a hesitant, breathless way of speaking — perfect for a woman revealing a secret hope she’s hardly dared to consider. The line break after "myself" introduces a brief pause, resembling a held breath before the confession.

At its core, the poem explores faith — particularly the deeply personal, urgent, and unwavering kind. It also reflects on identity and social exclusion (the woman's recognition of her marginalized position), hope (the belief in the possibility of healing), and forgiveness (the initial plea that sets the tone for the entire poem).