My Lost Youth by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Literary Analysis Essay Sample

“My Lost Youth” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a poem that tackles the desire to be young again and having to deal with the reality of adulthood. The speaker longs to have that childlike wonder once more. The figurative language, diction, themes, and tones all work together to make this poem meaningful and relatable. Longfellow touches on the wish that many people have; they wish to be back in the golden days of their youth. It is human nature to long for easier times and the poem emphasizes this longing and the struggle that comes with it. The speaker recalls different wonders and memories from his childhood, using them as an escape from his current reality. The song from his childhood, however, continues to draw him back towards his reality. The topics of youth, nostalgia, and longing are heavily present in this poem as the speaker travels through his memories.

“My Lost Youth” contains a myriad of themes within its stanzas. The most prominent themes include nature and youth. The figurative language of the poem, specifically natural imagery, is used frequently to describe the setting of the town that the speaker grew up in. The diction in regards to nature emphasizes the speaker’s nostalgia for the town he grew up in. Nature has a substantial role in the last two stanzas of the poem as it helps him to find” his youth and hear the beautiful song of his childhood once more. It is in Deering’s Woods that the speaker can dream and go back to his days of boyhood, finding the youth that he has been looking for. This is because the speaker feels hollow without it and he has lost the person who he used to be in his boyish years. This plays a big role in the poem because the speaker searches for the boy he was and his youth throughout the entirety of the poem. He longs for it but feels both pain and admiration when he thinks about his youth. The speaker has mixed feelings about it that change multiple times throughout the story. The speaker feels confused about his youth with his emotions spanning from mournful, to blissful,  and then, finally wistful. Thoughts and yearning for his youth take over his mind and he wishes to be young again. When the speaker thinks about the memories and time that has passed, he yearns to be that same bright, curious boy again. This outlook on youth constructs a nostalgic tone and mournful undertone throughout the stanzas.

The tone of “My Lost Youth” contains a contrasting undertone that adds depth and intrigue to the story. The tone that the speaker creates in the poem is one of being retrospective and feeling the longing for childhood. However, as the poem continues, the speaker shifts his tone to reflect the joy and warmth that he once felt as a young child. The speaker is deeply affected by his lost youth and he mourns the beauty and the curiosity he experienced as a child. The two emotions are laced throughout the poem and create a bittersweet feeling which the speaker experiences when he thinks about his childhood. The speaker sums up the tone of the poem well in Line 83 in which he describes it as “joy that is almost pain”. This provides accurate insight into the comprehensive outlook that the speaker has on his childhood. While he feels joy when he looks back on the bright and happy boy he once was, he yearns for those simpler times instead of having to face the complicated reality he lives in. He admires his past self and looks fondly upon the carefree and bright life he had in his childhood. The figurative language and diction that is used throughout the ninety lines of the poem are evidence for these tones that are present in “My Lost Youth”.

In stanza one, the speaker describes the town he was born in and where he grew up. He talks about how when he thinks of those places, he remembers his youth and how he used to be. It is in this stanza that he first mentions the Lapland song that is seen repeating throughout every stanza. The speaker often revisits these memories to relieve his forgotten, lost youth. In the second stanza, he talks more about his childhood town and how that time was full of his “boyish dreams”. (Line 14) The memories of these times in his life are continuously present in his mind and they sometimes bring him a “burden” (Line 15) of the reality that he now lives in. The third stanza captures the beauty and mystery that the speaker possessed in his youth. He recalls the curiosity he felt when he saw the Spanish sailors and their ships. The speaker uses words such as magic, beauty, and mystery to bring about a whimsical tone in this stanza. He describes the song this time as “wayward”. The speaker now feels like the song itself is persistent in his life and is difficult to control. In the fourth stanza he talks about the walls he used to see around the shore, it becomes clear through this stanza that the speaker was quite close with nature. The “hollow roar” (Line 30), is quite similar to the lost youth that the speaker deals with. He is hollow without that warmth and wonder of youth. In this stanza, he says the song is still fresh in his mind and it can be assumed that he thinks back on it quite often. In stanza five the speaker recalls watching a fight between two sea captains which he watched with amazement as a boy. The speaker experiences a shift back to his current reality in which he talks about their graves that are overlooking the bay where they died. This has remained a constant in his life despite the changing world around him. In this stanza he refers to the song as mournful, referencing the mourning he feels remembering this fight that was witnessed many years ago. Overall, these first stanzas focus on the town where the speaker grew up, the song he heard as a child, and the beauties and wonders that he was curious and amazed by in his youth. 

In stanza six the speaker gets more emotional in his reminiscing over his youth. He talks about his memories of old friendships and early loves which he is quietly reminded of. The song is now referred to as sweet and old, a sizable change compared to “mournful” from stanza five. Stanza seven talks about the speaker’s youth during his time as a schoolboy. He talks about his heart and how it was filled with both songs and silence. The songs that filled it might have been similar to prophecies as to how his life would be whereas others were better compared to absurd and wild goals and dreams. In this stanza, the speaker refers to the song as fitful and continues to say that it “Sings on, and is never still” (Line 61) which means that the song from his youth will always be there to remind him of the present situation that he is in. In stanza eight there is a shift in the way he talks about his youth. In line sixty-four, the speaker talks about things “of which I may not speak”. By this, he means that some things are better to be felt and thought about rather than just spoken aloud. The next few lines hint that there are things in his life that bring him mourning and leave him a little unsatisfied with the life he lives now as compared to his youth. The song is now referred to as fatal which gives an eerie and angst-ridden feel to the speaker’s words. These three stanzas offer us the last of the speaker’s glimpses into his childhood. They prepare us for the speaker’s return to the reality that he has to deal with.

In stanza nine, the speaker talks about the town in the present day. He talks about how while the people may seem unfamiliar and strange to him, the town and the nature within it have remained the same. It is beautiful to him and brings him a sense of joy once more. In this stanza he describes the song as beautiful, once again shifting to a blissful attitude towards the song. In the final stanza, the speaker finds his lost youth once more. He goes to Deering’s Woods and feels joy that almost reminds him of pain as he allows himself to fully indulge in the memories of his youth and in doing so finds his youth. In this final stanza, the song is described as strange and beautiful which relates to time and youth in itself. The second half of the stanzas talks about how strange yet beautiful the journey of youth is and the effect that time can have on our feelings towards certain things. It is in these stanzas that an even deeper understanding of the speaker’s connection to nature as to how deeply it affects him is shown.

In conclusion, “My Lost Youth” addresses the relatable encounter of wanting to go back to the golden years of our childhood. Longfellow discusses the feeling of missing the simpler, more beautiful outlook that people have on the world as children and compares it to the complicated and dull outlook on the world that tends to present itself in adulthood. While the boy that the speaker once was is no longer present, he learns to find beauty in his current situation. Longfellow’s use of natural and visual diction helps to reinforce that youth should be cherished and it is possible to be in awe of the world around you, no matter how old. Overall, the poem explains that youth is short-lived and once it’s gone there’s no going back. Youth leaves us with only memories and an ache for those sublime days once more. It is important to appreciate the present moment because one day it might be unattainable.