Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Bio

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet, one of the most popular and celebrated poets of his time. Born in Portland, Maine (then in Massachusetts), Longfellow was educated at Bowdoin College. After graduating in 1825 he traveled in Europe in preparation for a teaching career. He taught modern languages at Bowdoin from 1829 to 1835. In late 1835, during a second trip to Europe, Longfellow's wife, Mary Storer Potter, died in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Longfellow returned to the United States in 1836 and began teaching at Harvard University. In 1843 he remarried, to Fanny Appleton. After retiring from Harvard in 1854, Longfellow devoted himself exclusively to writing. He was devastated when in 1861 his second wife was burned to death in a household accident. He commemorated her shortly before his own death with the sonnet "The Cross of Snow" (1879). In 1884 a bust of Longfellow was placed in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey in London; he was the first American to be thus honored.

Longfellow received wide public recognition with his initial volume of verse, Voices of the Night (1839), which contained the poem "A Psalm of Life." His subsequent poetic works include Ballads (1841), in which he introduced some of his most famous poetry, such as "The Wreck of the Hesperus," "The Village Blacksmith," "The Skeleton in Armor," and "Excelsior"; and three notable long narrative poems on American themes: Evangeline (1847), about lovers separated during the French and Indian War (1754-1763); The Song of Hiawatha (1855), addressing Native American themes; and The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858), about a love triangle in colonial New England. Longfellow's other works include The Seaside and the Fireside (1849); Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863), containing the well-known poem "Paul Revere's Ride"; and Ultima Thule (1880). Longfellow also made a verse translation of The Divine Comedy (3 volumes, 1865-1867) by Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Longfellow's poetic work is characterized by familiar themes, easily grasped ideas, and clear, simple, melodious language. Most modern critics, however, are not in accord with the high opinion that was generally held of the author by his contemporaries, and his works are often criticized as sentimental. Nevertheless, Longfellow remains one of the most popular of American poets, primarily for his simplicity of style and theme and for his technical expertise, but also for his role in the creation of an American mythology. His verse was also instrumental in reestablishing a public audience for poetry in the United States.

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