THE GUEST. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
A woman is at a man's feet, crying and wiping them with her hair while pouring on expensive perfume.
The poem
See, how she kneels there weeping, and her tears Fall on his feet; and her long, golden hair Waves to and fro and wipes them dry again. And now she kisses them, and from a box Of alabaster is anointing them With precious ointment, filling all the house With its sweet odor! SIMON, aside, Oh, this man, forsooth, Were he indeed a Prophet, would have known Who and what manner of woman this may be That toucheth him! would know she is a sinner!
A woman is at a man's feet, crying and wiping them with her hair while pouring on expensive perfume. Nearby, a man named Simon grumbles that if this man was really a prophet, he would recognize her as a sinner. This poem dramatically retells a well-known New Testament moment where a sinful woman expresses her deep devotion to Jesus at a Pharisee's home. Longfellow allows the stark difference between the woman's sincere love and Simon's harsh judgment to speak for itself.
Line-by-line
See, how she kneels there weeping, and her tears / Fall on his feet…
SIMON, aside, / Oh, this man, forsooth…
Tone & mood
The poem balances two contrasting tones. In the first stanza, there's a warm, almost breathless quality as the narrator observes the woman expressing her grief and love with a sense of wonder. The second stanza shifts to a sharp and dismissive tone; Simon's voice comes across as clipped, self-satisfied, and judgmental. Longfellow refrains from adding his own commentary. Instead, he relies on the contrast to convey the moral: tenderness versus calculation, humility versus pride.
Symbols & metaphors
- Tears and hair — The woman offers her deepest personal possessions—her grief and her hair—to help another person. Together, they embody a kind of total, selfless devotion that disregards dignity or appearances.
- Alabaster box of ointment — Alabaster was costly, and the ointment inside was even pricier. Breaking open something valuable and pouring it out shows a level of love that’s both extravagant and permanent. It also indicates that she’s letting go of something genuinely valuable in the material world.
- The sweet odor filling the house — The scent filling the room is an undeniable act of love that Simon can't ignore, no matter how much he might try to downplay it. It serves as tangible proof that something truly special is taking place.
- Simon's aside — The theatrical device of the 'aside'—a thought spoken so only the audience hears—shows Simon as someone who hides his true opinions, maintaining a polite facade. It symbolizes hypocrisy: he observes love but perceives only sin.
Historical context
Longfellow included this piece in his dramatic poem sequence *Christus: A Mystery* (1872), a trilogy he spent nearly thirty years developing. The scene is taken directly from Luke 7:36–50, where a sinful woman washes Jesus's feet at Simon the Pharisee's house. Throughout his career, Longfellow was attracted to themes of religion and morality, and *Christus* was his most ambitious effort to portray the complete story of Christian history. By the 1870s, he had become the most widely read poet in America, and works like this held significant cultural influence. The dramatic style—complete with stage directions and character names—shows his fascination with verse drama, aiming to present scripture in a way that feels immediate and relatable instead of distant and doctrinal.
FAQ
It retells Luke 7:36–50, where a woman known as a sinner comes into the house of Simon the Pharisee. She weeps at Jesus's feet, dries them with her hair, and pours expensive ointment on them. In response, Jesus forgives her sins and highlights the difference between her passionate love and Simon's indifferent hospitality.
Simon is the Pharisee — a respected religious leader — who invites Jesus to dinner. In both the Bible story and this poem, he symbolizes institutional religion that prioritizes rules and categories (sinner vs. righteous) over the genuine human experience happening right in front of him.
The poem is an excerpt from *Christus: A Mystery*, a verse drama. This theatrical format allows Longfellow to reveal Simon's inner thoughts — the ones he would keep to himself — making his hypocrisy evident to the reader while he remains politely silent in the room.
Alabaster is a soft, light-colored stone often shaped into vessels for precious oils and perfumes. In the ancient world, it was considered a luxury. The woman breaks open something valuable and pours it out entirely — a gesture that boldly conveys she is holding nothing back.
Longfellow doesn’t express his opinion outright, but the poem's structure speaks volumes. The woman’s stanza is filled with sensory warmth, while Simon’s feels short and self-satisfied. Readers are meant to sense the woman’s love and see Simon’s judgment as empty—mirroring the reversal Jesus makes in the original Bible passage.
Yes. It's a brief excerpt from *Christus: A Mystery* (1872), a three-part dramatic poem that explores the early Christian era, the medieval period, and the Puritan settlement in New England. Longfellow regarded it as his masterpiece, although nowadays it's not as widely read as his shorter poems like 'Paul Revere's Ride.'
It’s the one detail in the scene that stands out and can't be overlooked. You might brush off a woman's tears, but you can't ignore a scent that permeates every corner of the room. Longfellow uses this to illustrate that true love is undeniable, regardless of whether the Simons of the world approve.
The title refers to Jesus as the guest in Simon's house. Ironically, Simon, the host, neglects to provide the basic courtesies of welcome — there's no water for Jesus' feet, no kiss of greeting, and no oil for his head — while the uninvited woman, labeled a sinner, offers everything she has. In this scene, the guest receives honor not from the host but from the outcast.