A Boise school helps us remember and appreciate an eminent American poet

Just in case it’s not on your calendar, Wednesday, Feb. 27, is the 212th birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who may be gone but is certainly not forgotten in Boise, with his famous name attached to the North End school on 9th Street.

As far as I know, my dog, Sadie, is not a fan of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Nor is she a fan of cats that sit on front porches and flaunt their feline superiority with silent and regal countenance, especially the one that sits on the front stoop just beyond Longfellow School taunting her.

On our morning walks, Sadie pulls me to Longfellow on her way to that home of the taunting cat, and that’s how I discovered the sayings and aphorisms of Longfellow and other famous Americans etched into the sidewalk in front of Longfellow School. A few Longfellow favorites in the pavement come to mind:

▪ “A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child.”

▪ “It takes less time to do something right than to explain why you did it wrong.”

▪ “The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books.”

▪ From Albert Einstein: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

▪ From Helen Keller: “The highest result of education is tolerance.”

I wondered how they came to be and learned that in preparation for the 100th anniversary of Longfellow School in 2006, then-Principal Debbie Donovan worked with teachers, parents and community members to apply for grants from the city of Boise and the Ada County Highway District to spruce up the school’s sidewalk with a canvas of appropriate quotes from Longfellow, Einstein and Keller.

The school’s namesake takes center stage, with a number of his quotes in plain view, just as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow took center stage in his lifetime as the most famous poet of the 19th century. His poetry popularized American heroes in “The Ride of Paul Revere,” celebrated our Native American past in “The Song of Hiawatha,” and recounted transgressions of the past with “Evangeline,” recalling the forced removal of French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia by the British. The breadth and depth of his poems, novels and essays added enormous weight to the 19th century literary canon.

Although it’s hard to fathom in a 21st century world, where digital technology merges with celebrity on TV and the movie screen to lionize actors and athletes, here was a star whose fame and impact on society was the 19th century version of Steven Spielberg or George Clooney. And he was a poet.

Just as stargazers tour Hollywood neighborhoods today, in Longfellow’s day visitors seeking a peek at the poet knocked on his door all day long. Long before kids would collect cards of their favorite baseball players, Longfellow kept a stack of autographed cards to hand out to his fans.

Longfellow’s image and likeness were reproduced on china, beer bottles, bookends and cigar boxes, whatever stood still long enough for the imprint. If he were alive today, he might just appear on stage at the Super Bowl halftime show to read “Paul Revere’s Ride,” dazzling the crowd with those famous opening lines.

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year.

In this cacophonous age of instant access to video and audio, we could rewrite that last line to ask who remembers the day when a poem was read that captured the imagination of an audience with the same national acclaim as Longfellow’s. Who remembers the day when a poem allowed ordinary citizens to reflect on nature, history, self or any subject finding its way to a poet’s verse?

We can probably guess the answers to those questions, but that should never prevent us from slowing down our fast-moving lives and dwelling on words that tell our stories, inspire us to live better lives and reflect on our humanity in the search for our better angels.

Here in Boise, that North End school reminds us of that bygone era when Longfellow and his fellow bards inspired America. At the conclusion of every school year, Principal Bryce England, his teachers and staff will serve up a final reminder of the poet at graduation, when they bestow the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poet’s Pride Award on students who exemplify the true meaning of character.

Attaching Longfellow’s name to the award makes sense given the school’s name, but it also serves as a reminder of the role poetry played in the life of our nation, and how our language and culture have been shaped and formed by great poets like Longfellow.

This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 9:31 PM.