Longfellow

We're reading "The Wreck of the Hesperus" in class today. I'm usually not a fan of ballads, especially ones that involve sailors or young girls with "cheeks like the dawn of day." Nevertheless, this little hurricane poem had a bit more resonance.

The father (a hubristic skipper who scoffs at warnings of inclement weather) ends up tying his young daughter to the ship, hoping to keep her from being swept away. To no avail. Huge tragic death and lots of exclamation points and apostrophes (the "o" kind).