BY JENS IMMANUEL BAGGESEN by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
This poem captures a grown man reflecting on his childhood, filled with both joy and sadness as he remembers the simplicity and magic of his early years.
The poem
There was a time when I was very small, When my whole frame was but an ell in height; Sweetly, as I recall it, tears do fall, And therefore I recall it with delight. I sported in my tender mother's arms, And rode a-horseback on best father's knee; Alike were sorrows, passions and alarms, And gold, and Greek, and love, unknown to me, Then seemed to me this world far less in size, Likewise it seemed to me less wicked far; Like points in heaven, I saw the stars arise, And longed for wings that I might catch a star. I saw the moon behind the island fade, And thought, "Oh, were I on that island there, I could find out of what the moon is made, Find out how large it is, how round, how fair!" Wondering, I saw God's sun, through western skies, Sink in the ocean's golden lap at night, And yet upon the morrow early rise, And paint the eastern heaven with crimson light; And thought of God, the gracious Heavenly Father, Who made me, and that lovely sun on high, And all those pearls of heaven thick-strung together, Dropped, clustering, from his hand o'er all the sky. With childish reverence, my young lips did say The prayer my pious mother taught to me: "O gentle God! oh, let me strive alway Still to be wise, and good, and follow Thee!" So prayed I for my father and my mother, And for my sister, and for all the town; The king I knew not, and the beggar-brother, Who, bent with age, went, sighing, up and down. They perished, the blithe days of boyhood perished, And all the gladness, all the peace I knew! Now have I but their memory, fondly cherished;-- God! may I never lose that too!
This poem captures a grown man reflecting on his childhood, filled with both joy and sadness as he remembers the simplicity and magic of his early years. He thinks back to playing with his parents, marveling at the moon and stars, and saying bedtime prayers — experiences that felt significant and profound at the time. Now that those days have passed, all he has left are the memories, which he clings to tightly.
Line-by-line
There was a time when I was very small, / When my whole frame was but an ell in height;
I sported in my tender mother's arms, / And rode a-horseback on best father's knee;
Then seemed to me this world far less in size, / Likewise it seemed to me less wicked far;
I saw the moon behind the island fade, / And thought, 'Oh, were I on that island there,
Wondering, I saw God's sun, through western skies, / Sink in the ocean's golden lap at night,
And thought of God, the gracious Heavenly Father, / Who made me, and that lovely sun on high,
With childish reverence, my young lips did say / The prayer my pious mother taught to me:
So prayed I for my father and my mother, / And for my sister, and for all the town;
They perished, the blithe days of boyhood perished, / And all the gladness, all the peace I knew!
Tone & mood
The poem starts off warm and nostalgic, then ends on a quietly devastating note. The speaker doesn’t express anger or bitterness; instead, he shows tenderness toward his past self. The tone resembles someone gently handling something delicate. The final stanza changes the mood dramatically: the sweetness turns into grief, and the last line feels almost like a prayer.
Symbols & metaphors
- The moon behind the island — Represents the mysteries of the world that childhood makes feel *almost* within reach. A child truly believes that reaching the island would unveil the moon — a symbol of innocent, literal-minded wonder.
- The sun setting and rising — Represents the natural cycle that the child sees as miraculous instead of ordinary. It subtly hints at the poem's theme of time passing—the sun continues its journey, but the speaker's childhood is gone for good.
- Pearls of heaven — The stars are likened to pearls that fell from God's hand. This imagery makes the cosmos feel more personal and crafted, capturing the child's belief that the universe was created with love and attention.
- The prayer — The mother's prayer symbolizes the faith passed down through generations and the connection between parent and child. It also reflects the straightforward morals of childhood — be wise, be good — before life adds layers of complexity to those ideals.
- The bent beggar — A figure marked by age, hardship, and social neglect. The child prays for him despite not knowing him, reflecting the pure compassion that comes with youth — a compassion that the adult speaker quietly laments having lost.
- Memory — By the final stanza, memory emerges as the poem's key symbol — the last remnant of a world that has disappeared. The speaker's anxiety about losing it makes it seem like the only barrier between him and total emptiness.
Historical context
This poem is Longfellow's translation of a piece by the Danish-German poet Jens Immanuel Baggesen (1764–1826), who was celebrated for his lyrical and sentimental verse that gained immense popularity in Scandinavia and Germany during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Longfellow was an accomplished and prolific translator who strongly believed that American readers should have access to European literary traditions. Throughout his career, he translated works from French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Scandinavian languages. This poem embodies the Romantic tradition's interest in childhood as a time of natural innocence and spiritual clarity—a theme central to Wordsworth's English poetry and prevalent in much of Northern European verse from that period. Longfellow published it to introduce lesser-known European voices to American readers, and the poem's straightforward language and emotional honesty made it a great fit for his translation approach.
FAQ
Baggesen originally wrote the poem in Danish or German, and Longfellow translated it into English. The title *By Jens Immanuel Baggesen* clearly shows that Longfellow is acknowledging the original author. Consider Longfellow as a talented interpreter rather than the original voice.
An *ell* was an old measurement used throughout Europe, roughly the length of a forearm—somewhere between 18 and 45 inches, depending on the country. The speaker is simply noting that he was quite small, and using this outdated unit adds a playful, vintage touch to the line.
The central theme is the loss of childhood — particularly the wonder, innocence, and peace that came with it. The poem goes beyond mourning people or places; it laments an entire way of experiencing the world that adulthood shuts down.
He says the tears are sweet ones—they fall *with delight*, not just from sorrow. It's that special ache of nostalgia: the memory is lovely, but the reality that it's just a memory stings. By the end of the poem, the grief ultimately outweighs the sweetness.
The speaker reveals that his childhood days have vanished entirely — the joy, the peace, all of it gone. What remains is just the *memory* of those times, and his last plea to God is not to strip even that away. It's a raw, urgent conclusion that reshapes everything prior as a struggle to hold onto the past.
That's exactly the point. The child doesn't see a difference between the people he loves and an elderly stranger sighing on the street. His compassion comes naturally and without fuss. The adult speaker reflects on this quality as something that has faded over time.
Faith is woven throughout, but this isn't a doctrinal or theological poem. God is seen through the child's eyes: as the creator of sunsets and stars, and as the one who hears a simple bedtime prayer. Here, religion blends seamlessly with wonder and the mother who shared that prayer — it's intimate and heartfelt rather than formal.
The poem consists of quatrains—four-line stanzas—following an ABAB rhyme scheme. The meter is mostly iambic pentameter, but Longfellow (sticking to the original) permits some variations. This consistent structure reflects the orderly and secure world of the child, making the eventual collapse even more shocking.