In junior high school, we studied Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, The Wreck of the Hesperus. If you are not familiar with the poem, it is about a stubborn sea skipper who refuses to heed the advice of his experienced crew and loses his life and the life of his daughter who is sailing with him. My teacher, Mrs. Sporacio, took several weeks took several weeks with the class to study this poem until each student unerstood the meaning of each line. I grew to love the simple rhythm and the descriptive adjectives. I memorized the poem and have never forgotten it.
In the poem, the ship wreck takes place on the reef of Norman’s Woe. In my imagination, I imagined that Norman’s Woe would be located on some rocky coast of England but it is actually located in Gloucester, Mass. This summer, I’m going to take a trip there to see Hammond Castle and Norman’s Woe. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate a nearly life long love of The Wreck of the Hesperus.
www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/Wreck.htm
www.hammondcastle.org/index.htm
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