(The last publication date for my Cambridge edition is 1893 and there is no cover like it among the 103 here posted.)

There are few more sonorous openings to compare with:

This is the forest primeval.

Midway through the 644 pages, what fun - not just EVANGELINE...
yet...
Listen My Children and You
Shall Hear of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere!

Then,
Under a speeding Chestnut-tree
The Village Smithy stands

And, a favorite Christmas Hymn -

I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day,
Their old,, familiar carols play...

with allowance for

But at anchor, carved and gilded,
lay the dragon-ship he builded...

Beauty follows and a lovely MICHAEL ANGELO.

Yet, there is way too much hunting and no compassion for murdered wildlife not needed for food. ( )

I thought it was worth the read for anyone interested in poetry- poets and admirers alike. ( )

This is a collection that should be dipped into, read carefully, and truly savoured. Longfellow was probably the best American poet of the nineteenth century.