The Sea of Galilee by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is a brief dramatic piece — only two lines — featuring the disciple Nathaniel (Bartholomew) sitting in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee as he utters the words "All is now ended." It conveys the deep, stunned grief of the disciples right after the Crucifixion, when the hope of resurrection hasn't yet emerged. In just a few words, Longfellow captures a moment where a single person is at the lowest point of his faith.

The tone feels stark and desolate. There's no decoration, no comfort, and no rhetorical flair—just a man in a boat uttering the worst thing he can think of. The dramatic-fragment style keeps the reader at arm's length, like observing a scene through a window, which makes the grief feel even more raw and vulnerable.

Longfellow published this piece in his ambitious dramatic poem *Christus: A Mystery* (1872), a trilogy he spent nearly thirty years crafting. The work traces the journey of Christian history, starting with the Nativity and continuing through the early Church and into the medieval era. "The Sea of Galilee" is part of *The Divine Tragedy*, the trilogy's first section, which presents scenes from the Gospels in a minimalist, almost theatrical manner. Longfellow was particularly interested in how everyday people experience significant spiritual crises, often giving voice to minor or peripheral characters — like Nathaniel — instead of focusing solely on the central figures. By 1872, Longfellow had endured profound personal loss, including the tragic death of his second wife in a fire in 1861. His religious poetry reflects the depth of someone who has truly felt despair.