Skip to content
Storgy

The Annotated Edition

JOHN THE BAPTIST. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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

Read aloud in ~2 minOpen reading mode →

This poem voices John the Baptist, the biblical prophet who paved the way for Jesus, as he urges crowds—including priests, Pharisees, and Scribes—to abandon their sins before it’s too late.

Poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Themes
death, faith, fear
The PoemFull text

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Repent! repent! repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand, And all the land Full of the knowledge of the Lord shall be As the waters cover the sea, And encircle the continent! Repent! repent! repent! For lo, the hour appointed, The hour so long foretold By the Prophets of old, Of the coming of the Anointed, The Messiah, the Paraclete, The Desire of the Nations, is nigh! He shall not strive nor cry, Nor his voice be heard in the street; Nor the bruised reed shall He break, Nor quench the smoking flax; And many of them that sleep In the dust of earth shall awake, On that great and terrible day, And the wicked shall wail and weep, And be blown like a smoke away, And be melted away like wax. Repent! repent! repent! O Priest, and Pharisee, Who hath warned you to flee From the wrath that is to be? From the coming anguish and ire? The axe is laid at the root Of the trees, and every tree That bringeth not forth good fruit Is hewn down and cast into the fire! Ye Scribes, why come ye hither? In the hour that is uncertain, In the day of anguish and trouble, He that stretcheth the heavens as a curtain And spreadeth them out as a tent, Shall blow upon you, and ye shall wither, And the whirlwind shall take you away as stubble! Repent! repent! repent!

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

This poem voices John the Baptist, the biblical prophet who paved the way for Jesus, as he urges crowds—including priests, Pharisees, and Scribes—to abandon their sins before it’s too late. Longfellow draws extensively from the language of the Old and New Testaments to convey John's passionate, fire-and-brimstone tone. Essentially, the poem is a dramatic monologue: a powerful warning from one man that judgment is approaching and no one will escape it.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. Repent! repent! repent! / For the kingdom of God is at hand,

    Editor's note

    The poem begins with John's distinctive cry, echoed three times to create emphasis and rhythm. He proclaims that God's kingdom is near, referencing Isaiah's prophecy that the earth will be "full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). The repeated call to "Repent!" goes beyond style — it reflects the urgent, passionate preaching approach that the Gospels associate with John.

  2. Repent! repent! repent! / For lo, the hour appointed,

    Editor's note

    This long central stanza is the theological heart of the poem. John announces the arrival of the Messiah with a series of titles — "the Anointed," "the Paraclete" (which means advocate or comforter in Greek), and "the Desire of the Nations" — each reflecting different prophetic traditions. The references to not breaking a bruised reed or quenching smoking flax come straight from Isaiah 42:3 and Matthew 12:20, portraying the coming Christ as gentle, even amidst the terrifying judgment surrounding him. The stanza wraps up with vivid apocalyptic imagery: the dead rising, the wicked wailing, and sinners melting away like wax or smoke.

  3. O Priest, and Pharisee, / Who hath warned you to flee

    Editor's note

    John now confronts the religious establishment head-on. This moment is reminiscent of Matthew 3:7, where John takes on the Pharisees who arrive for his baptism. His rhetorical question — "who warned you?" — strikes hard, suggesting that they are here out of convenience rather than genuine intent. The axe-at-the-root imagery is one of the Bible's most powerful metaphors for judgment, and Longfellow captures its intensity: trees that don't produce good fruit are cut down and burned.

  4. Ye Scribes, why come ye hither? / In the hour that is uncertain,

    Editor's note

    The final stanza expands its critique to encompass the Scribes, who are the legal scholars in Jewish society. Longfellow references Isaiah 40:22, using the metaphor of God stretching the heavens like a curtain or tent. The concluding images — withering at God's breath and being scattered like stubble in a whirlwind — come from Isaiah 40:24 and strengthen the poem's main theme: human power and status are insignificant when faced with divine judgment. The poem concludes as it began, with the repeated "Repent!", creating a circular, sermon-like structure.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone is urgent, prophetic, and unwavering from beginning to end. There’s no softness or compromise here — Longfellow captures the voice of someone convinced he’s delivering a last warning. The repeated "Repent!" acts like a drumbeat, while the increasing clashes with Priests, Pharisees, and Scribes create a growing intensity. It feels less like a lyric and more like a sermon shouted at full volume.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

The axe at the root
A clear picture of impending, irreversible judgment. An axe resting at a tree's root isn't just a threat — it's a countdown. It indicates that the time for warnings is nearly up, and destruction awaits those who bear no good fruit.
Bruised reed and smoking flax
These fragile, damaged things — a bent reed, a dimly lit wick — symbolize the vulnerable and the struggling. The prophecy that the Messiah will not break or extinguish them offers a promise of mercy woven into an otherwise daunting declaration of judgment.
Smoke and wax
The wicked melting like wax and being blown away like smoke illustrate complete and effortless dissolution. These images highlight the minimal resistance that human wickedness can present against divine power — here one moment, vanished the next.
The heavens as a curtain or tent
God stretching the sky like fabric highlights the immense difference in scale between the divine and human beings. The Scribes, who appear strong and enduring, are, in contrast, as fleeting as stubble caught in a whirlwind.
Waters covering the sea
This image of complete coverage illustrates the future of divine knowledge — not just partial or selective, but total and universal, much like how water fills every inch of the ocean.

§06Historical context

Historical context

Longfellow released this poem as part of his ambitious three-part dramatic work *Christus: A Mystery* (1872), which he dedicated decades to crafting and viewed as his masterpiece. The trilogy explores the history of Christianity, beginning with the birth of Christ and extending through the medieval period to the Puritan era in America. "John the Baptist" is included in the first part, *The Divine Tragedy*, which dramatizes scenes from the Gospels. Longfellow was writing during a time when biblical verse drama had a serious literary following, and he drew inspiration partly from Goethe's *Faust* and Milton's *Paradise Regained*. The poem relies almost entirely on scripture — specifically Isaiah, Matthew, and Daniel — with Longfellow's primary creative task being the selection and arrangement of those biblical phrases into a rhythmically compelling dramatic monologue. By 1872, Longfellow was the most widely read poet in the English-speaking world, and *Christus* was a significant cultural milestone, even if later critics deemed it less impactful than his earlier works.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

John the Baptist appears in the New Testament Gospels as a preacher in the wilderness by the Jordan River, urging people to repent and be baptized ahead of Jesus' arrival. He is seen as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy about a voice crying out in the wilderness. Longfellow's poem gives him a powerful speaking role, allowing his biblical words to resonate as direct speech instead of just being narrated historical accounts.

Read next

Poems in the same key

Similar poems

The Tyger — William BlakeGod's Grandeur — Gerard Manley HopkinsThe Hound of Heaven — Francis ThompsonElegy Written in a Country Churchyard — Thomas Gray

More by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Browse all Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems →

Themes in this poem

Poems about deathPoems about faithPoems about fearPoems about justice