H W Longfellow

The sculpture at the Museum.

When I saw the sculpture of H W Longfellow, I remembered reading his name when I was in middle school. Immediately I pulled out my iPod to see what poems he had written and what I had read. As soon as I read some of the poems that he had written my entire childhood flashed in front of me. Turns out I had read 7 of his poems that I could remember.

Henry Dexter, the sculptor was a “self-taught genius,” as mentioned in the explanation below the sculpture. The sculpture made out of marble, was made in 1868. The sculpture is an exact depiction of H W Longfellow and shows the expertise of Henry Dexter in an elegant way. The marble sculpture raises Longfellow’s greatness by the classical Roman drape giving a kingly effect to the poet but the hairstyle and the shine on the forehead give a note of humanity to the sculpture.  

As per the explanation provided below the sculpture, both men sat down when they were in their sixties and Henry Dexter created this masterpiece. Dexter used American marble to create the portrait referring to the poems of Longfellow which were distinctly American and the fact that he hadn’t learnt classical sculpture abroad.

My initial reaction to seeing the sculpture was “oh, H W Longfellow. I have read poems that he wrote”. After that my brain blacked out on what poems I had read. In order to satisfy my need to know what poems I had read, I opened H W Longfellow’s Wikipedia and found out that I had read 7 poems that I could remember reading. I read at least one poem from 6^th grade to 10^th grade and parts of my middle school and high school flashed in front of me. I read A Psalm of Life again after I saw this sculpture and remembered how inspired I was when I first read this poem. The poem talks about taking charge in life like a hero and acting in the present and not living in the past or worrying about the future. I remember my teacher telling the class to keep pursuing in the goals no matter what the outcome is. All this took place at the museum and when I was done I realized that I had just been standing at the same spot for almost 45 minutes reading the poem and trying to infer it.

The claim that the piece is making is to not forget the art (literature or artistic) that existed in 1800s and especially to remind students of the great poets and authors that lived back in the day. The claim seems convincing to me to the extent that I stood there and took my time to remember what I know about Longfellow. The claim would be more persuasive if there are more visitors to the museum and not just students asked to go their because of their class.
This was my second time going to the Palmer museum of Arts. The first time I was there was two weeks ago when I went there with a friend to help her find paintings for her Art History class. I loved the paintings that were there; especially Harlem Rose, football sculpture, mother and son and the stone painting. I definitely imagine going back but not anytime soon. I would definitely go there to show the museum to my friends and family but also sometime to just appreciate the art.