Poem for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Class of 1825

Quiz — Poem for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Class of 1825 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. Recall – Context: For what specific occasion did Longfellow compose this poem, and approximately how many of his original classmates were still alive at the time?

1. Recall – Form & Opening: What famous historical salute does Longfellow use to open the poem, and what does it symbolize in the context of the reunion?

1. Recall – Symbol: What do the "fifty volumes written by Time" represent in the poem, and what key quality of those volumes makes them a melancholic image?

1. Recall – Medieval Legend: Briefly describe the underground scene discovered by the clerk in the medieval legend Longfellow retells. What does the flaming jewel in that scene symbolize?

1. Comprehension – Tone Shift: Identify at least two distinct tonal shifts in the poem and explain what triggers each shift in the narrative.

1. Comprehension – The Young Students: How does Longfellow characterize the younger generation of students, and what attitude do the old classmates adopt toward them? What two legendary objects are used to evoke the power and promise of youth?

1. Comprehension – Classical Allusion: What does the image of King Priam observing the Trojan War from the city walls convey about the situation of Longfellow and his surviving classmates?

1. Analysis – The Asterisk of Death: Explain how the asterisk symbol functions in the poem. Why is a bureaucratic, typographical image particularly effective for conveying grief over lost classmates?

1. Analysis – Stars Invisible by Day: The poem's closing image suggests that old age can reveal something hidden. What argument does Longfellow make through this image, and how does it connect to the poem's broader theme of mortality and meaning?

1. Analysis – Occasional Poetry: This poem was written for a specific public event, yet it is considered more than mere "occasional poetry." Drawing on at least two elements from the analysis (biographical context, themes, symbols, or tone), explain how Longfellow elevates the reunion into something universally significant.

Answer Key

1. Longfellow wrote the poem for the 50th reunion of his Bowdoin College graduating class in 1875; fewer than half of his original classmates were still living by that time.

1. He opens with the gladiatorial salute to Caesar made before combat. It frames the elderly reunion attendees as gladiators confronting death with dignity, giving the poem a ceremonial, solemn grandeur from the outset.

1. The fifty volumes represent the fifty years since graduation — each "book" filled with a lifetime of joy, grief, regret, and love. They are melancholic because they are closed and cannot be reopened, revised, or rewritten.

1. The clerk discovers a hall containing petrified knights and ladies beside green tables and burning torches, illuminated by a flaming jewel. The flaming jewel symbolizes Life itself; when the archer's arrow is accidentally released, the jewel shatters and everything is plunged into darkness.

1. Two key tonal shifts: (a) The poem opens with solemn, ceremonial grandeur, then shifts into elegy as Longfellow counts the dead classmates — triggered by the weight of absence at the reunion. (b) The elegiac tone gives way to warmth and celebration when the speaker addresses the young students, triggered by the sight of the vibrant younger generation. A further shift to quiet defiance occurs in the poem's closing movement.

1. Youth is described in vibrant, almost legendary terms — full of power and promise. The old classmates greet the young with warmth and no envy. The two legendary objects used to evoke youth's potential are Aladdin's lamp and Fortunatus' purse.

1. The Priam image conveys that the old classmates, like the aged Trojan king, are no longer fit to fight or compete in the active arena of life, but they retain dignity as witnesses, elders, and judges — their experience giving them a valuable perspective even from the sidelines.

1. The asterisk marks the names of deceased classmates on a class list, functioning like a bureaucratic notation of absence. Its effectiveness lies in the contrast between the stark, impersonal typographical symbol and the profound human loss it signals — the clinical smallness of the mark makes the deaths feel both undeniable and quietly devastating.

1. Longfellow argues that just as stars only become visible after the sun sets, old age — though it dims the brightness of youth — reveals deeper truths and perspectives that could not be seen before. This connects to the poem's broader message that old age is not merely loss or decline but a stage that uncovers its own form of wisdom and meaning.

1. Answers will vary but should draw on at least two elements. For example: Longfellow's own biographical losses (the deaths of two wives, the trauma of Fanny's death in 1861) infuse the poem with genuine personal grief that transcends the occasion. The universal themes of mortality, memory, and the passage of time — explored through symbols like the gladiatorial salute and the fifty volumes — transform a local alumni gathering into a meditation on what it means to age, endure loss, and still find purpose. The poem thus speaks to any reader confronting the weight of years, not only to the Class of 1825.