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Random Longfellow Quote for the day

 


"Maidens still wear their Norman caps  and their kirtles of homespun,

And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story,

While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest."

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Very nice, Henry. What's a kirtle? 

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  1. HenryAugust 10, 2021 at 11:33 AM

    Since the Henry whom you apparently address is dead, perhaps you'll appreciate an answer from a living Henry. A kirtle is "a woman's loose gown, worn in the Middle Ages." It is also "a man's tunic," but, since maidens wear them in the poem, and we have no reason to believe that these maidens are cross-dressers, it's safe to assume that the former meaning applies.

    I also looked up "homespun" to see whether it could be a noun, as Longfellow uses it, as well as an adjective. It can be; it means "a plain weave cloth made at home, or of homespun yarn."

    The source of my definitions is The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged.

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