Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Josh Lee]

I saw a poem today. But I don't understand what it really mean.
There's one paragraph of the poem.

My father used to say,
" Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow's grave
or the glass flowers at Harvard.

Can anyone solve this for me?

sincerely, Josh Lee

[pugachevV]

When superior people visit you, they don't stay long.
They don't have to be shown Longfellow's grave, or the glass flowers at Harvard.
(Presumably, because they have already seen them, as any superior person would have, in the poet's opinion.).

Harvard Museum of Natural History has a collection of around 3000 lifelike glass flowers. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the famous poet, is buried at Mount Auburn, not too far away.