Sec. III by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This brief excerpt from Longfellow's larger work is called "The Interview," hinting at an important face-to-face meeting between two characters. The poem conveys the intense emotions of their encounter, filled with the history they've shared. Since it exists within a broader narrative, its significance grows when you read it in context with the surrounding passages.

Spare and suspended. The title, just a single word, evokes a sense of holding one’s breath—filled with anticipation and gravity—like the poem is poised at a closed door, ready to knock.

This section is part of Longfellow's larger narrative poem sequence, probably from *Tales of a Wayside Inn* (1863) or another multi-part work he created with numbered sections. Longfellow wrote during a time when lengthy narrative poems were very popular, often including short titled interludes as markers between longer parts. The 1860s were particularly challenging for Longfellow due to significant personal losses — his wife Fanny tragically died in a fire in 1861 — and themes of encounter, loss, and reflection are prevalent in much of his writing from this time. A section simply called "The Interview" would have held considerable dramatic impact for Victorian readers who were familiar with serialized poetry.