The Last Farewell

A poem by Edward Bliss Emerson, retold as a story

This reader is retold from a poem by Edward Bliss Emerson, the brother of the famous American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edward wrote the poem in 1832 as he sailed from Boston to the island of Porto Rico. The poem was first published in the nineteenth century. It captures the sadness of leaving home, family and loved ones for a faraway place. Edward's feelings of love, loss and farewell are universal—readers of every generation understand what it means to say goodbye to the people and places we hold dear.

Band

Yellow · Emerging readers, about 6 to 8

Length

medium · about 541 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Poems, Ralph Waldo Emerson · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (8 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.