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BARTIMEUS. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

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Bartimeus is a dramatic monologue where an elderly blind man waits outside the ancient city of Jericho, sharing the city’s rich history with a younger companion named Chilion.

Poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Themes
faith, identity, memory
The PoemFull text

BARTIMEUS.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Be not impatient, Chilion; it is pleasant To sit here in the shadow of the walls Under the palms, and hear the hum of bees, And rumor of voices passing to and fro, And drowsy bells of caravans on their way To Sidon or Damascus. This is still The City of Palms, and yet the walls thou seest Are not the old walls, not the walls where Rahab Hid the two spies, and let them down by cords Out of the window, when the gates were shut, And it was dark. Those walls were overthrown When Joshua's army shouted, and the priests Blew with their seven trumpets.

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

Bartimeus is a dramatic monologue where an elderly blind man waits outside the ancient city of Jericho, sharing the city’s rich history with a younger companion named Chilion. He recounts tales from the fall of its walls during Joshua's time to the moment when Jesus healed a blind beggar on that same road. The poem explores how a single location can embody centuries of stories, and how this blind man perceives that history more vividly than anyone else. It concludes with the speaker suggesting that he might be Bartimeus, the blind man who was healed by Jesus in the Gospels.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. Be not impatient, Chilion; it is pleasant / To sit here in the shadow of the walls

    Editor's note

    The speaker, an elderly blind man, softly tells his young companion to take it easy and just be in the moment. As they sit in the shade of Jericho's walls, he encourages Chilion to listen to the lively sensory world surrounding them: the buzzing of bees, distant voices, and the ringing of bells from caravans on their way to Sidon or Damascus. For someone who cannot see, these sounds are his connection to the world, and he hopes Chilion can enjoy them just as much.

  2. This is still / The City of Palms, and yet the walls thou seest

    Editor's note

    The speaker shifts from the current scene to explore deep history. Jericho was once called 'the City of Palms,' a nickname he uses to ground the listener in time. He then quickly undermines the visible walls—those that Chilion can see—by noting they are *not* the original walls. The true old walls have vanished, destroyed ages ago, and what stands now is a later structure. This creates the poem's central tension: what we observe is only part of the story.

  3. Are not the old walls, not the walls where Rahab / Hid the two spies, and let them down by cords

    Editor's note

    Here, the speaker references the Book of Joshua. Rahab was a woman in Jericho who hid two Israelite spies sent by Joshua, protecting them from the king's soldiers and lowering them to safety from her window using a scarlet cord. The blind man recounts this story effortlessly, as someone who has heard and shared it numerous times — it resides in his memory just as sighted people hold onto images.

  4. And it was dark. Those walls were overthrown / When Joshua's army shouted, and the priests

    Editor's note

    The phrase 'and it was dark' has a dual significance: it not only sets the scene for the escape at night, but it also subtly reflects the speaker's own enduring darkness. The account of Jericho's walls falling — that iconic moment when Joshua's army marched for seven days and the priests blew their trumpets, leading to the walls crumbling — is shared almost nonchalantly, as though the speaker experienced it firsthand. This succinctness gives the destruction an air of inevitability and completeness.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone is slow and reflective — the voice of someone who has found comfort in stillness. There’s a warmth in how the speaker talks to Chilion, reminiscent of a grandfather getting ready to share a long tale. Beneath this calmness, however, lies a quiet reverence: this old man occupies a space rich with centuries of sacred history, and he is aware of it. The poem maintains a soft voice, yet it holds significant weight.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

The walls of Jericho
The walls reflect the layers of human history, with each generation constructing anew atop the remnants of the previous one. The poem's first lesson is that the visible walls are *not* the original ones: what appears before us is never the complete truth. This presents a quietly ironic perspective for a blind man.
The shadow of the walls
Sitting in shadow is the blind man's natural state — he exists without light. Yet, this shadow also represents comfort and shelter, not danger. Longfellow presents blindness as a form of closeness to the unseen world instead of a loss.
The scarlet cord
Rahab's cord, which was used to lower the spies to safety, symbolizes salvation and covenant in the Bible. Within the larger poem, it ties into the theme of rescue—similar to how Jesus heals and 'rescues' blind Bartimeus from darkness.
The seven trumpets
Sound, rather than sight, was what brought down the walls of Jericho. For a blind man who relies on sound to understand his surroundings—bees, bells, voices—this detail carries significant weight. The most remarkable event in the city's history happened through hearing, not seeing.

§06Historical context

Historical context

Longfellow published this poem in his 1854 collection *The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems*, although earlier versions had surfaced. It pulls directly from two biblical stories: Rahab and the spies in Joshua 2, and the healing of blind Bartimeus in Mark 10 and Luke 18. Longfellow had a strong interest in the Holy Land — he visited in 1868 — and many of his poems incorporate biblical geography as a backdrop for reflections on faith, time, and human resilience. The dramatic monologue form, where a speaker talks to a specific listener, was quite popular in the Victorian era and allowed poets to channel historical or biblical figures without making explicit theological statements. Longfellow employs this technique here, letting the blind man's viewpoint convey the theological message subtly, without overt preaching.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

Bartimeus (or Bartimaeus) is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark (10:46–52) and Luke (18:35–43) as a blind beggar sitting by the roadside near Jericho. When he learns that Jesus is nearby, he cries out to him, and Jesus restores his sight. In Aramaic, his name translates to 'son of Timaeus.' Longfellow features him as the speaker in this poem, bringing him back to Jericho after his healing.

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