The Courtship Of Miles Standish By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-18

The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) Type of Work: Romantic narrative poem Setting Plymouth, Massachusetts; 1621 Principal Characters Miles Standish, a soldier and protector of the colony John Alden, his younger, bookish friend Priscilla, a young Puritan woman Play Overveiw On a spring afternoon in 1621, Captain Miles Standish, a short, powerfully-built man of middle age and a recent widower, stood in his house, surveying with pride his well-polished weapons of war. "If you wish a thing to be well done, you must do it yourself," he preached to his young friend John Alden, who sat writing letters to be sent back to England on the May Flower the next day. Since the death of his wife, Rose, the Captain had invited John to share his home. Captain Standish was a man of action. He treasured but three books: Bariffe's Artillery Guide, the Commentaries of Caesar, and The Bible, all full enough with rumblings of war to satisfy his soldier heart. Alden, on the other hand, was a gentle student; humble, pious - as a Puritan should be - and able in the art of words, not weapons. The letters John wrote were full of the name "Priscilla." He had observed her quiet faith through the colony's harsh first winter, as well as her courage at the loss of her beloved parents and brother. All of John Alden's love and sympathy privately longed to envelop and protect her. But now the Captain broke the silence to divulge a secret that shocked his companion: He was much impressed with a girl who went by the name of "Priscilla"; he thought she would be the best choice to take the on place of his Rose. Stunned by this disclosure, Alden's heart sank even more when Miles made a request: "I can march up to a fortress and summon the place to surrender, But march up to a woman with such a proposal, I dare not." Astonishingly, he was commissioning his young friend John, the man of well-turned phrases, to propose marriage in his behalf. John Alden was left aghast - "Trying to smile and yet feeling his heart stand still in his bosom . . . " At last he recovered enough to remind the Good Captain of his maxim: "If you would have a thing well done..." "Truly the maxim is good," Standish agreed, "but we must use it discreetly, and not waste powder for nothing. Surely you cannot refuse what I ask in the name of our friendship!" Alas, "Friendship prevailed over love, and Alden went on his errand." His Puritan training had won out All is clear to me now, This is the hand of the Lord,- it is laid upon me in anger, For I have followed too much the heart's desires and devices, This is the cross I must bear. Perhaps it was the weight of that self-imposed cross that made Alden botch his errand. For as he approached her cabin door and heard Priscilla singing the Hundredth Psalm while she contentedly spun her cloth, he was filled with woe. Priscilla smiled upon seeing John, showing obvious delight in his visit. Then, as they spoke, she guiltily confessed how homesick she felt. But John blurted out: Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. Yours is tender and trusting and needs a stronger to lean on; So I have come to you now, with an offer an proffer of marriage Made by a good man and true, Miles Standish, the Captain of Plymouth! Priscilla's surprise at this offer was obvious; and Alden only made things worse as he warmed to Ns subject, extolling the virtues of his friend. Finally, Priscilla beamed impishly and asked, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" That question undid the poor scholar and he fled to the seashore to berate himself for his clumsiness. "Is it my fault that the maiden has chosen between us?" he cried to the sky. Immediately an answer thundered within him: "It hath displeased the Lord!" and John's sins now appeared as terrible to him as David's entanglement with Bathsheba. Seeing the May Flower still at anchor in the harbor, he resolved to return to England and take his guilty secret of love to the grave. "Better be dead and forgotten," he concluded dramatically, "than living in shame and dishonor!" Having consigned himself to this course, John returned to Captain Standish and recounted Priscilla's reply. When he repeated her revealing question, "Up leaped the Captain of Plymouth, Wildly he shouted, and loud: John Alden ! You have betrayed me! You, who have fed at my