Night
This is the first major image in the poem. Longfellow really wants us to focus on the exact time of day, that moment where day shifts into night. To drive this home, he makes "Night" into somethi...
Eagle
The Eagle is introduced as another way of thinking of the night. As far as important poetic symbols go, the eagle is way up there. For thousands of years, poets have used this bird to represent p...
Rain and Mist
The rain comes up a few times in this poem, both as a literal description of what's going on and as a metaphor for other things. We think there are a few good reasons for that. Think of the way r...
Distant Footsteps
Here the speaker imagines that he can hear the footsteps of poets from the past. We think this is a really cool image for the traditions of poetry. In a way, these "grand old masters" become like...
Corridors of Time
Another neat image of the past. For the speaker, time isn't just a single straight line, but a kind of mysterious set of corridors. We imagine a labyrinth, the kind of thing you'd see in a Tim Bu...
Tears
You know how it can be fun to watch a really tear-jerking romantic comedy? Or maybe there's a sad song that makes you cry, but the crying always feels kind of good. Well, folks in the nineteenth...
The Arabs
This is a really interesting final image. We've spent the whole poem in a sort of cozy, sleepy homey atmosphere. Now all of a sudden these Arabs creep in at the end of the poem. Longfellow makes...