Which lines in the poem indicate its theme? a shadow by henry wadsworth longfellow i said unto myself, if i were dead, what would befall these children? what would be their fate, who now are looking up to me for and furtherance? their lives, i said, would be a volume wherein i have read but the first chapters, and no longer see to read the rest of their dear history, so full of beauty and so full of dread. be comforted; the world is very old, and generations pass, as they have passed, a troop of shadows moving with the sun; thousands of times has the old tale been told; the world belongs to those who come the last, they will find hope and strength as we have done.