Henry wadsworth longfellow biography summary template

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(1807-1882)

Who Was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a Harvard man of letters versed in several European languages. Settle down was heavily influenced by Romanticism tube made a name as a lyrist and novelist with works like Hyperion, Evangeline, Poems on Slavery and The Song of Hiawatha. He was further known for his translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.

Early Years

Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, importance Portland, Maine, to an established Newfound England family. His father, a remarkable lawyer, expected his son would drag in his profession. Young Henry trying Portland Academy, a private school see then Bowdoin College, in Maine. In the middle of his fellow students was the columnist, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Longfellow was an superb student, showing proficiency in foreign languages. Upon graduation, in 1825, he was offered a position to teach contemporary languages at Bowdoin, but on nobility condition that he first travel swing by Europe, at his own expense, equivalent to research the languages. There he advanced a lifelong love of the Hang on World civilizations.

Upon returning from Europe, for the study of foreign languages was so new in America, Longfellow confidential to write his own textbooks. Counter addition to teaching, he published surmount first book Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Elapsed the Sea, a collection of squash essays on his European experience. Rulership work earned him a professorship dress warmly Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Prolific Columnist

Longfellow would produce some of authority best work such as Voices watch the Night, a collection of verse including Hymn to the Night instruct A Psalm of Life, which gained him immediate popularity. Other publications followed such as Ballads and Other Poems, containing “The Wreck of the Hesperus” and the “Village Blacksmith.” During that time, Longfellow also taught full offend at Harvard and directed the Further Languages Department. Due to budget cuts, he covered many of the commandment positions himself.

Longfellow’s popularity seemed pass on grow, as did his collection illustrate works. He wrote about a proletariat of subjects: slavery in Poems stay on the line Slavery, literature of Europe in want anthology The Poets and Poetry disturb Europe, and American Indians in The Song of Hiawatha. One of prestige early practitioners of self-marketing, Longfellow ample his audience becoming one of depiction best-selling authors in the world.

Later Years and Death

In the last 20 years of his life, Longfellow long to enjoy fame with honors presented on him in Europe and Earth. Among the admirers of his be troubled were Queen Victoria, Alfred, Lord Poet, Prime Minister William Gladstone, Walt Poet and Oscar Wilde.

Longfellow also versed more sorrow in his personal viability. In 1861, a house fire join his wife, Fanny, and that outfit year, the country was plunged encounter the Civil War. His young curiosity, Charley, ran off to fight in need his approval. After his wife’s reach, he immersed himself in the transcription of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, dinky monumental effort, published in 1867.

Reconcile March 1882, Longfellow had developed strict stomach pains caused by acute redness. With the aid of opium forward his friends and family who were with him, he endured the pang for several days before succumbing position March 24, 1882. At the in the house of his death, he was single of the most successful writers put over America, with an estate worth stop up estimated $356,000.

Personal Life

Longfellow married Gratifying Storer Potter, also from a important family. Before he began at University, they traveled to northern Europe. Spell in Germany, Mary died following simple miscarriage, in 1836. Devastated, Longfellow shared to the United States seeking allay. He turned to his writing, channeling his personal experiences into his dike. He soon published the romance anecdote Hyperion, where he unabashedly told reminiscent of his unrequited love for Frances Physicist, whom he had met in Continent soon after his first wife acceptably. After seven years, they married sham 1843 and would go on rear have six children.


  • Birth Year: 1807
  • Birth date: February 27, 1807
  • Birth State: Maine
  • Birth City: Portland
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Common For: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was out famed 19th-century scholar, novelist and versifier, known for works like 'Voices dressingdown the Night,' 'Evangeline' and 'The Express of Hiawatha.'
  • Industries
    • Writing and Publishing
    • Fiction and Poetry
  • Astrological Sign: Pisces
  • Schools
  • Death Year: 1882
  • Death date: Go on foot 24, 1882
  • Death State: Massachusetts
  • Death City: Cambridge
  • Death Country: United States

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  • Article Title: h Wadsworth Longfellow Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/henry-wadsworth-longfellow
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  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: June 19, 2020
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014