![]() The bulk of Voices of the Night was translations, but he included nine original poems and seven poems that he had written as a teenager. Several years later, he wrote the poem “ Mezzo Cammin,” which expressed his personal struggles in his middle years. Longfellow began publishing his poetry in 1839, including the collection Voices of the Night, his debut book of poetry. Longfellow published several nonfiction and fiction prose pieces in 1833 inspired by Irving, including “ The Indian Summer” and “ The Bald Eagle“. Three years after the death of his first wife, Mary Storer Potter, he was inspired to write the poem “ Footsteps of Angels” about her. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha (1855)Īfter his first wife, Mary Storer Potter, died in 1835 after only four years of marriage, Longfellow married Frances Elizabeth “Fanny” Appleton, a daughter of Nathan Appleton, in 1843 in his second marriage, with whom he had six children: Charles Appleton (1844-1893), Ernest Wadsworth (1845-1921), Fanny (1847-1848), Alice Mary (1850-1928), Edith (1853-1915), and Anne Allegra (1855-1934). Longfellow circa 1850, daguerreotype by Southworth & Hawes Middle Years ![]() Upon his return, he taught at Harvard University. During his years teaching at the college, he translated textbooks from French, Italian, and Spanish his first published book was a translation of the poetry of medieval Spanish poet Jorge Manrique in 1833. In Madrid, he spent time with Washington Irving, who encouraged the young Longfellow to pursue writing. However, he didn’t answer immediately, but between 18, and from 1831 to 1835, he traveled in Europe, learning German, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and other languages, reading widely and being deeply influenced by German Romanticism and Goethe. In 1825 after his successful graduation he was offered a position as an on-site modern language teacher. He published nearly 40 minor poems between January 1824 and his graduation in 1825. He pursued his literary goals by submitting poetry and prose to various newspapers and magazines, partly due to encouragement from Professor Thomas Cogswell Upham. Born in what is now Maine, USA, Longfellow grew up well cared for and studied at Bowdoin College in Brunswick along with his brother Stephen, where he became friends with future author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who became his lifelong friend. On his father’s side, Henry Longfellow is also descended from Priscilla and John Alden, one of the famous Pilgrims who embarked in 1620 on the Mayflower and founded the colony of Plymouth. The Longfellow family emigrated to America in 1676 from Yorkshire, England. House of Representatives, as did his father Stephen Longfellow. ![]() Longfellow’s mother came from an old New England Puritan family, his maternal grandfather Peleg Wadsworth was a general in the War of Independence and later became a member of the U.S. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Wreck of the Hesperus (1842) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Family Background and Early Life He became the most popular American poet of his day and had success overseas.Īnd the skipper had taken his little daughter, Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He was the first American to translate Dante Alighieri‘s Divine Comedy. On February 27, 1807, American poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron in 1868
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