NOTE. The portrait prefixed to this volume is from an en- BIRDS OF PASSAGE INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The Courtship of Miles Standish gave title to a volume, published in 1858, which contained in addition a number of separate poems grouped under the heading, Birds of Passage. It was introduced by the poem Prometheus and closed by Epimetheus. The title, which had been used before for a single poem, was conveniently comprehensive and appropriate, and when making the first collective edition of his works after this, Mr. Longfellow employed it to stand above his various shorter pieces after this date, arranging them according to their successive issues in book form, as Flight the First, which included the poems published in The Courtship of Miles Standish volume, and thus through Flight the Fifth. This arrangement is here followed with a slight change. The poem Birds of Passage, originally published in The Seaside and The Fireside, is made to lead the first Flight. Prometheus and Epimetheus, instead of heading and closing one section, are placed together, since in their original composition and in the author's intention they were complementary poems. In the present edition it has been found convenient to group in two volumes all of Mr. Long fellow's shorter poems. These poems fall naturally into two main divisions. The former includes the minor pieces produced between the years 1837 and 1850, that is, from the time when the poet established himself at Cambridge in his thirty-first year to the time when his mind was largely engrossed with the themes which demanded longer flights, like Evangeline, The Golden Legend, and The Song of Hiawatha. The poems of this division are brought together, with The Spanish Student, in the volume which forms the first of the series of Mr. Longfellow's poetical works in the present edition. The latter of the two divisions into which his minor work falls reaches in the main from about 1854 until the close of his life, and is represented by the present volume, which includes the several miscellaneous collections made by Mr. Longfellow from time to time, as well as the small volume issued after his death. It may be remarked that this second succession of poetic flights began about the time when Mr. Longfellow released himself from academic work and secured that freedom from routine to which for several years he had been looking forward; it should be observed, however, that up to the publication of The Courtship of Miles Standish, his poetic work, including The Golden Legend, was produced under whatever disadvantage came from his college occupation. Still, there can be little doubt that with his release came a quickening of the poetic faculty and a resolution for large ventures. It was after this that the greater part of Christus and in effect the whole of the transla 12 BIRDS OF PASSAGE exception, all of his briefer and such of his longer work as was appropriate. The material, therefore, for the illustration of the biography of Mr. Longfellow's shorter poems, after this date, is very meagre ; the dates are given in many instances, but it has not been thought necessary always to note the place of their appearIn ance, since the magazine which carried most of them is not, like those to which he contributed in his earlier days, extinct and difficult of access. the notes at the end of the volume will be found a number of references to authorities and sources of the poems which were not properly Mr. Longfellow's memoranda, and therefore have not been used as head-notes. 10 ff i r 12 BIRDS OF PASSAGE exception, all of his briefer and such of his longer work as was appropriate. The material, therefore, for the illustration of the biography of Mr. Longfellow's shorter poems, after this date, is very meagre ; the dates are given in many instances, but it has not been thought necessary always to note the place of their appearance, since the magazine which carried most of them is not, like those to which he contributed in his earlier days, extinct and difficult of access. the notes at the end of the volume will be found a number of references to authorities and sources of the poems which were not properly Mr. Longfellow's memoranda, and therefore have not been used as head-notes. In |