Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Quick Facts

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:

1. Eldest Brother: Stephen Wadsworth Longfellow (1805–1850)
2. Younger Sister: Elizabeth Wadsworth Longfellow (1808–1829)
3. Younger Sister: Anne Wadsworth Pierce (1810–1901)
4. Younger Sister: Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow (1814–1901)
5. Younger Sister: Mary Greenleaf (Longfellow) (1816–1901)
6. Younger Sister: Ellen Longfellow (1818–1834)
7. Youngest Brother: Reverend Samuel Longfellow (1819–1892)

• Spouses:

1. Mary Storer Potter (b. 1812–d. 1835; m. 1831 until her demise)
2. Frances Elizabeth Appleton (b. 1817–d. 1861; m. 1843 until her demise)

• Children:

1. Stillborn: - - - (October 5, 1835- October 5, 1835)
2. Son: Charles Appleton Longfellow (1844–1893)
3. Son: Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow (1845–1921)
4. Daughter: Fanny Longfellow (1847–1848)
5. Daughter: Alice Mary Longfellow (1850–1928)
6. Daughter: Edith Dana Longfellow (1853–1915)
7. 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:

1. 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 20^th 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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