Life span: 02/27/1807 to 03/24/1882TabsLife SummaryFull name: Henry Wadsworth LongfellowPlace of Birth: Portland, MEBurial Place: Cambridge, MABirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Siblings: 7No. of Spouses: 2No. of Children: 6Family: Stephen Longfellow (father), Zilpah Wordsworth Longfellow (mother), Mary (first wife), Francis Appleton (second wife)Education: OtherOther Education: Bowdoin College, MEOccupation: EducatorWriter or ArtistRelation to Slavery: White non-slaveholderChurch or Religious Denomination: Unitarian or Universalist Note Cards Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American National Biography) ScholarshipLongfellow's literary reputation, like [Alfred] Tennyson's, has suffered from the inevitable changes in poetic style and taste. He has been called too didactic, but when he began writing he was widely blamed for sacrificing uplift to purely aesthetic considerations. "A Psalm of Life" (1839) seems one of his poorest poems, but his contemporaries, including the French poet Charles Baudelaire, found it deeply moving. An impatient reader and writer, Longfellow wanted everything stated as quickly and as plainly as possible, not left to implication and inference. Yet he was a scholar and far less simple than his work suggests. He admired the primitive, and in his Indian poems and elsewhere he introduced important native materials into American literature. Yet he also played an important part in establishing modern languages in the American educational curriculum, and he labored valiantly to introduce American readers to large aspects of the literature and art of Europe, encouraging them to enter into the common cultural inheritance of Western culture.Edward Wagenknecht, "Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01015.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 04/06/1860 04/06/1860 In Boston, Henry Longfellow begins to write his famous poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" 04/19/1860 04/19/1860 In Boston, Henry Longfellow completes his famous poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" 07/10/1861 07/10/1861 Fanny Longfellow, wife of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dies of burns suffered in her home 05/23/1864 05/23/1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts Major TopicsUncle Tom’s Cabin Documents Images Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, detail Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, portrait, circa 1860 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, portrait, circa 1860, detail Francis "Fanny" Longfellow, circa 1855 Francis "Fanny" Longfellow, circa 1855, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Blue, Frederick J. “The Poet and the Reformer: Longfellow, Sumner, and the Bonds of Male Friendship.” Journal of the Early Republic 15 (1995): 273-297. View Record
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American National Biography) ScholarshipLongfellow's literary reputation, like [Alfred] Tennyson's, has suffered from the inevitable changes in poetic style and taste. He has been called too didactic, but when he began writing he was widely blamed for sacrificing uplift to purely aesthetic considerations. "A Psalm of Life" (1839) seems one of his poorest poems, but his contemporaries, including the French poet Charles Baudelaire, found it deeply moving. An impatient reader and writer, Longfellow wanted everything stated as quickly and as plainly as possible, not left to implication and inference. Yet he was a scholar and far less simple than his work suggests. He admired the primitive, and in his Indian poems and elsewhere he introduced important native materials into American literature. Yet he also played an important part in establishing modern languages in the American educational curriculum, and he labored valiantly to introduce American readers to large aspects of the literature and art of Europe, encouraging them to enter into the common cultural inheritance of Western culture.Edward Wagenknecht, "Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01015.html.