Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an illustrious 19th century American novelist and poet.
Profile
- Birth Name: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- AKA: Henry Longfellow
- Date of Birth: February 27, 1807
- Place of Birth: Portland, Maine, USA
- Zodiac Sign: Pisces
- Date of Death: March 24, 1882
- Died at Age: 75 years
- Place of Death: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Place of Burial: Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Cause of Death: Peritonitis
- Ethnicity: White
- Nationality: American
- Father: Stephen Longfellow (1776–1849)
- Mother: Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow (1778–1851)
- Siblings:
- Eldest Brother: Stephen Wadsworth Longfellow (1805–1850)
- Younger Sister: Elizabeth Wadsworth Longfellow (1808–1829)
- Younger Sister: Anne Wadsworth Pierce (1810–1901)
- Younger Sister: Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow (1814–1901)
- Younger Sister: Mary Greenleaf (Longfellow) (1816–1901)
- Younger Sister: Ellen Longfellow (1818–1834)
- Youngest Brother: Reverend Samuel Longfellow (1819–1892)
- Spouses:
- Mary Storer Potter (b. 1812–d. 1835; m. 1831 until her demise)
- Frances Elizabeth Appleton (b. 1817–d. 1861; m. 1843 until her demise)
- Children:
- Stillborn: - - - (October 5, 1835- October 5, 1835)
- Son: Charles Appleton Longfellow (1844–1893)
- Son: Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow (1845–1921)
- Daughter: Fanny Longfellow (1847–1848)
- Daughter: Alice Mary Longfellow (1850–1928)
- Daughter: Edith Dana Longfellow (1853–1915)
- Daughter: Anne Allegra Longfellow (1855–1934)
- Alma Mater: Bowdoin College
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is known for: composing melodious poems that frequently revolve around mythology and legend.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is criticized for: mimicking the English Romantic tradition.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was influenced by: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825), Novalis (Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg) (1772–1801), E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776 –1822), Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862), Washington Irving (1783–1859), William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851), Walt Whitman (1819–1892), and Emily Dickinson (1830 –1886).
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s works inspired: NA
- Awards:
- Honorary doctorate of laws from Harvard in 1859.
Quotes
“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!”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Excelsior (1842)
Major Works
- Coplas de Don Jorge Manrique (1833)
- Outre-Mer (1835)
- Voices of the Night (1839)
- Hyperion (1839)
- Ballads and Other Poems (1842)
- Poems on Slavery (1842)
- The Spanish Student (1843)
- Poets and Poetry of Europe (1844)
- The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems (1845)
- Poems (1845)
- The Waif (1846)
- The Estray (1846)
- Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847)
- The Seaside and the Fireside (1850)
- Kavanagh (1851)
- The Golden Legend (1851)
- The Song of Hiawatha (1855)
- Poems the "Blue and Gold" edition (1857)
- The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems (1858)
- Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863)
- Household Poems (1865)
- Flower-de-Luce (1866)
- Poetical Works (1866)
- Dante's Divine Comedy (1867)
- The New England Tragedies (1868)
- The Divine Tragedy (1871)
- Christus: A Mystery (1871)
- Three Books of Song (1872)
- Aftermath (1873)
- The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1873)
- Poetical Works, the "Household" edition (1874)
- The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems (1875)
- Complete Poetical Works, the "Centennial" edition (1876)
- Poems of Places (1877)
- Keramos and Other Poems (1878)
- Ultima Thule (1880)
- In the Harbor (1882)
Works Did You Know?
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the second of eight children born to Stephen Longfellow and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow.
- Longfellow's father was a lawyer and congressman.
- Longfellow's first wife, Mary Storer Potter, was his childhood friend from Portland.
- Both of his wives died tragically: his first wife died from a miscarriage in 1835, whereas his second wife died in a fire in 1861.
- Longfellow enrolled at Bowdoin College in 1822 along with his eldest brother Stephen.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne was his classmate and lifelong friend.
- After its replacement in 1906, the West Boston Bridge was renamed as Longfellow Bridge.
- In March, 15 2007, the United States Postal Service issued a 39-cent stamp to celebrate the 200th birth anniversary of Longfellow.
- Towards the later years, Longfellow led a very silent and reclusive life.
- He contributed towards the first American translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.
- Although Longfellow was the leading poet of his time, during the early half of the 20th century his importance diminished and he was considered as a minor poet.
- He is the only American poet for whom a bust was placed in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London.
- His first poem was published in the Portland Gazette on November 17, 1820.
- Due to Longfellow’s immense popularity, his face was used by many companies to promote their products.
- The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) occurred during his lifetime.
- He was a professor at Harvard University from 1836 to 1854.
- He was a poet of romantic tradition following many trends of the English Romantic movement.
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