The Jewish Cemetery at Newport

Musicality is one of the key features of Longfellow’s poetic oeuvre, and is clearly heard in “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport.” Written as regular quatrains (four-line stanzas) with an ABAB rhyme scheme, the poem mostly follows iambic pentameter. Each line of the poem contains five feet (pentameter) with each foot (iambs) complying with the unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable pattern. Though the end-rhymes are relatively straightforward—“town / down,” “sleep” / “keep”—the poet avoids a lullaby-like effect with the occasional unusual rhyme (“Decalogue” / “Synagogue”) and its formal diction. The diction is reminiscent of Victorian English poetry, imparting a sense of solemnity to the proceedings, which befits an elegy.

The musical quality of the poem is enhanced by the use of alliteration—another poetic device popular in Victorian poetry. Longfellow’s use of alliteration (repeated word sounds) is distinctive in that the repeated sounds are often accompanied by a strong visual image, such as in phrases like “sepulchral stones” (Line 9), “desert desolate” (Line 31), and “mirk and mire” (Line 34). This imbues the phrases with particular mnemonic potential.