The Jewish Cemetery at Newport

One of the central themes of the poem is the irreversibility of death. Though the poet speaks of the dead with great sympathy and acknowledges they are not forgotten, he asserts that “no Psalms of David now the silence break” (Line 22). “Silence” and “silent” are often used to describe the grave dwellers of the Newport cemetery, dividing them from the loud, moving world of the living. In contrast to the dead, the waves of the nearby sea are “never-silent” (Line 3) and the trees “wave their broad curtains in the south-wind's breath” (Line 6) over the still graves. Each time the dead are animated, it is in the context of the poet’s imagination, his retelling of the “Ishamaels and Hagars of mankind” (Line 32) driven over deserts and seas. Here, the speaker discusses the past of the Jewish community, and broadly suggests the futility of living in the past. The theme acquires greater meaning in the context of Longfellow’s humanist and patriotic ideals. As an American poet crafting a new literature and shaping a proud national consciousness, he espoused the nation have its eyes firmly trained on the future.

In the same way Longfellow treats his version of Jewish history, the past is to be revered and respected, but cannot be reclaimed.