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The poem was a staple of American readers for many years, and A Plea for Old Cap Collier by Irvin S. Cobb, satirized it. His description is partly based on an illustration used in the readers. The words quoted are Longfellow's:
- The shades of night were falling fast,
- As through an Alpine village passed
- A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
- A banner with the strange device,
- Excelsior!
The title of Excelsior was reportedly inspired by the state seal of New York, which bears the Latin motto Excelsior. Longfellow had seen it earlier on a scrap of newspaper. Longfellow's first draft, now in the Harvard University Library, notes that he finished the poem at three o'clock in the morning on September 28, 1841. "Excelsior" was printed in Supplement to the Courant, Connecticut Courant, vol. VII no. 2, January 22, 1841.
James Thurber (1894–1961) illustrated the poem in The Thurber Carnival in 1945.
There is a Lancashire version or parody, Uppards, written by Marriott Edgar one hundred years later in 1941.
The poem was set to music as a duet for tenor and baritone by the Irish composer Michael William Balfe, and was a staple of Victorian and Edwardian drawing rooms.
Lorenz Hart alludes to Longfellow's poem in the title song of the musical On Your Toes.
"Excelsior" also became a trade name for wood shavings used as packing material or furniture stuffing. In Bullwinkle's Corner, Bullwinkle the Moose parodies the poem in Season 2 Episode 18 (1960–61) of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show:
- The answer came both quick and blunt:
- It's just a advertising stunt.
- I represent Smith, Jones, & Jakes,
- A lumber company that makes...
- Excelsior!
The poem is the base for the motto of Wynberg Allen School in Mussorie, India. It is also the name and motto for the Brampton, Ontario, Canada box lacrosse teams. In 1871 Mr. George Lee, a Brampton High School teacher introduced lacrosse to the town. He proposed the name "Excelsior", which he took from Longfellow's poem. In 1883 the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club was officially formed. The name has been used for all levels of box lacrosse in Brampton ever since.
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