Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Most Popular Poet of the Nineteenth Century free essay sample

Dawn L. Stewart Peoples around the universe know Henry Wadsworth Longfellow # 8217 ; s poetry even if they don # 8217 ; Ts know who wrote it. His poesy is recited to us in childhood, and lines from one of his verse forms have even been found etched into a window window glass in North Carolina. In the mid 1800 s the Chinese authorities presented Longfellow with a fan inscribed with his verse form The Psalm of Life. A testimonial to his popularity, his verse forms have been translated into tonss of linguistic communications. Longfellow # 8217 ; s Ancestors In 1676 Henry Longfellow # 8217 ; s ascendants came to America from Yorkshire, England. On his female parent # 8217 ; s side, Longfellow is related to John Alden, who sailed on the Mayflower and became the first adult male to set down at Plymouth. His female parent, Zilpah, was the oldest girl of General Peleg Wadsworth who was a brigadier general of reserves in the Revolutionary War and subsequently a congresswoman. We will write a custom essay sample on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Most Popular Poet of the Nineteenth Century or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Henry # 8217 ; s father, Stephen Longfellow, is one of many work forces named Stephen in the household tree. The first Stephen was a blacksmith, the 2nd Stephen a Harvard alumnus and headmaster who held public seats. The 3rd Stephen became a member of the legislator, a senator and a justice. The 4th Stephen, Longfellow # 8217 ; s male parent, graduated Harvard and became a attorney. The name Stephen went to Henry # 8217 ; s older brother. Youth A ; School Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine ( a territory of Massachusetts at that clip ) on February 27, 1807 with bluish eyes and just hair. The 2nd boy of seven siblings ( three brothers and four sisters ) , Henry was named after his uncle, Henry Wadsworth, who served in the navy aboard the fire-ship Intrepid and who heroically died aboard ship in 1804. When merely three old ages old, Longfellow attended school with his older brother Stephen. Longfellow # 8217 ; s first instructor, Ma # 8217 ; am Fellows, was a fastidious rule-enforcer. Henry and his brother shortly transferred to a public school. Then they relocated to a private school run by Nathaniel H. Carter. Incredibly intelligent, by age six, Longfellow already knew Latin grammar, could read, spell and multiply. He so moved to Portland Academy to go on his instruction where he remained until he enrolled in college. After the roof of Longfellow # 8217 ; s house caught fire from the chimney in 1814, Henry # 8217 ; s father decided to add a 3rd floor to the place. The household divided and lived with assorted relations during building. Henry and his female parent stayed with his gramps. At age eight, during this clip, Henry developed an infection in his pes, and physicians believed the pes might hold to be amputated. After a month, he recovered from the infection and started to walk once more, and gratefully did non necessitate his pes removed. When Longfellow returned to school, he studied Algebra, Latin and Greek. His household hired a private coach to learn him Gallic. Longfellow # 8217 ; s female parent encouraged her kids to take part in music, and Longfellow learned the piano and flute, developing a life-long love of music. Bowdoin College Henry started college at Bowdoin when merely 14 old ages old. Longfellow # 8217 ; s father wanted him to go a attorney, but Longfellow, after a short stretch analyzing jurisprudence, developed scholarly involvements. At age 19, ranking 4th in a category of 38 pupils, Longfellow delivered one of the beginning addresss at graduation in 1825. One of his schoolmates was Nathaniel Hawthorne. After graduating from Bowdoin College, Longfellow was asked to go the first professor of Modern Languages at that place. He accepted the place with the proviso that the College let him to go to Europe for survey. The school ab initio offered him a wage of $ 1000. Then while Longfellow traveled through Europe, the college decided he was excessively immature for the place of professor. Bowdoin College offered Longfellow the occupation of coach for less money. Longfellow, ferocious, declined the place. The college reconsidered the state of affairs and offered Longfellow the chair if he would besides go the school librarian. Longfellow accepted, gaining a wage of $ 800 as professor and $ 100 as librarian. After three old ages in Europe, going England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain, Longfellow returned place in 1829 and taught at Bowdoin between 1829 to 1835. At the clip, no texts existed for his categories, so Longfellow wrote his ain. Harvard University In 1834, Longfellow was appointed a chair at Harvard. From 1836 to 1854, Longfellow served as Smith Professor of Modern Languages. He returned to Europe for a twelvemonth to analyze German, and his first married woman, Mary Storer Potter, accompanied him. Between assignments and meetings ( he had letters of debut to influential people ) , Longfellow walked the states of Denmark, England, Germany, Holland, Sweden and Switzerland. Pulling upon his love of music, he played his Ag flute to do people experience at easiness with him. He enjoyed run intoing people no affair what they did for a life or their topographic point in society. In 1835, calamity occurred when his married woman, Mary, died in Rotterdam. Later, Longfellow returned to Cambridge where he boarded at Craigie House ( one time central offices to George Washington ) . In 1839, Longfellow published his first book of verse forms, Voices of the Night. He felt that learning interfered with his authorship and resigned from Harvard in 1854. In June of that twelvemonth he started composing The Song of Hiawatha. Longfellow # 8217 ; s First Wife: Mary Storer Potter Mary Storer Potter, born on May 12, 1812 in Cambridge, was the girl of Judge Potter of Portland, Maine. Longfellow knew Mary from school yearss and met her once more in Portland during a church service. He lacked the bravery to talk with her after following her place ; but at age 24, Longfellow married Mary on September 14, 1831. While married to Mary, Longfellow contributed travel studies to New England Magazine. In 1834, Mary accompanied him when he returned to Europe to analyze. Her hapless wellness contributed to a abortion in 1835, and a few hebdomads subsequently she died at age 22 in Rotterdam. They were married for four old ages. After Mary # 8217 ; s decease, Longfellow continued his travels through Germany and Switzerland before returning to Harvard to learn. Longfellow # 8217 ; s Second Wife: French republics Appleton Eight months after Mary # 8217 ; s decease, Longfellow met Frances Appleton during his travels through Germany and Switzerland. He once more met Frances ( nicknamed Fanny ) , girl of Nathan Appleton, a outstanding Boston merchandiser, seven old ages after he returned to Cambridge. They married July 13, 1843 after a long wooing. By this clip, Nathan Appleton owned Craigie House and gave Craigie House, which overlooked the Charles River, to Longfellow as a nuptials gift. Their place became a meeting topographic point for pupils, literary and philosophical figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Julia Ward Howe, and Charles Sumner. During their happy matrimony, Longfellow sired six kids ( two male childs and four misss ) . Fanny became the first obstetric receiver of quintessence in the United States on April 7, 1847 during her 3rd gestation. Her girl, besides named Fanny, died one twelvemonth subsequently. Longfellow based the heroine in Hyperion, written in 1839, on his married woman Fanny. His kids besides influenced his authorship as evidenced in his verse form The Children # 8217 ; s Hour. Get downing in 1857 with the first issue, The Atlantic Monthly magazine published over 50 of Longfellow # 8217 ; s verse forms. In 1858, Longfellow published The Courtship of Miles Standish, which sold over 15,000 transcripts during the first hebdomad of publication. On July 9, 1861, calamity once more tormented Longfellow when his married woman died in a fire at age 44. She and her two youngest girls, aged five and seven, were in the library. While runing wax to seal envelopes incorporating film editings of her kids # 8217 ; s hair, Fanny dropped a lucifer onto her frock. Longfellow tried to deliver his married woman by surrounding the fires with a carpet merely to have awful Burnss on his custodies and face. Since shaving became hard due to cicatrixs from the fire, Longfellow grew a face fungus. Deeply depressed, Longfellow immersed himself in interpreting Dante into English and returned to Europe. Longfellow # 8217 ; s Later Old ages In 1868, Longfellow traveled to Europe for the last clip accompanied by his kids. During this trip, he received honorary grades at Oxford and Cambridge. Longfellow was selected as a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and of the Spanish Academy. He besides immortalized The Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts with his Narratives Of a Wayside Inn in 1863. When the chestnut tree on Brattle Street had to come down, the tree featured in his verse form A Village Blacksmith ( Under a spreading chestnut tree ) , the kids of Cambridge collected pennies to hold a chair made for Longfellow from the chestnut tree # 8217 ; s wood for his 72nd birthday. Longfellow published over 20 books, the last book, In the Harbor, in 1882. The Bells of San Blas ( his last verse form ) was written near to March 24, 1882, the day of the month he died at age 75 of peritoneal inflammation, which claimed his life within five yearss. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lays at remainder in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two old ages after his decease, he was the first American poet whose flop was placed in the Poet s Corner in Westminster Abbey.