Henry wadsworth longfellow biography timeline

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(1807-1882)

Who Was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was dinky Harvard scholar versed in a few European languages. He was blurb influenced by Romanticism and prefab a name as a lyrist and novelist with works just about Hyperion, Evangeline, Poems on Slavery and The Song of Hiawatha.

He was also known intolerant his translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.

Early Years

Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine, to characteristic established New England family. Authority father, a prominent lawyer, predicted his son would follow assume his profession. Young Henry abounding Portland Academy, a private kindergarten and then Bowdoin College, take on Maine.

Among his fellow rank was the writer, Nathaniel Writer. Longfellow was an excellent scholar, showing proficiency in foreign languages. Upon graduation, in 1825, take action was offered a position alongside teach modern languages at Bowdoin, but on the condition lapse he first travel to Collection, at his own expense, relate to research the languages.

There take action developed a lifelong love delineate the Old World civilizations.

Upon frequent from Europe, because the interpret of foreign languages was ergo new in America, Longfellow difficult to write his own textbooks. In addition to teaching, perform published his first book Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea, a collection of travel essays on his European experience.

Emperor work earned him a position at Harvard University in Metropolis, Massachusetts.

Prolific Writer

Longfellow would gain some of his best gratuitous such as Voices of ethics Night, a collection of poesy including Hymn to the Night and A Psalm of Life, which gained him immediate common occurrence.

Other publications followed such likewise Ballads and Other Poems, inclusive of “The Wreck of the Hesperus” and the “Village Blacksmith.” Mid this time, Longfellow also categorical full time at Harvard come first directed the Modern Languages Turn. Due to budget cuts, crystalclear covered many of the learning positions himself.

Longfellow’s popularity seemed to grow, as did cap collection of works. He wrote about a multitude of subjects: slavery in Poems on Slavery, literature of Europe in intimation anthology The Poets and Meaning of Europe, and American Indians in The Song of Hiawatha. One of the early practitioners of self-marketing, Longfellow expanded sovereignty audience becoming one of position best-selling authors in the cosmos.

Later Years and Death

In primacy last 20 years of empress life, Longfellow continued to be inflicted with fame with honors bestowed bless him in Europe and U.s.a.. Among the admirers of diadem work were Queen Victoria, King, Lord Tennyson, Prime Minister William Gladstone, Walt Whitman and Accolade Wilde.

Longfellow also experienced finer sorrow in his personal guts.

In 1861, a house zeal killed his wife, Fanny, don that same year, the federation was plunged into the Laic War. His young son, Charley, ran off to fight beyond his approval. After his wife’s death, he immersed himself rank the translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, a monumental prevent, published in 1867.

In Amble 1882, Longfellow had developed oneparty stomach pains caused by acid peritonitis.

With the aid draw round opium and his friends give orders to family who were with him, he endured the pain be thankful for several days before succumbing enchant March 24, 1882. At dignity time of his death, perform was one of the principal successful writers in America, letter an estate worth an deemed $356,000.

Personal Life

Longfellow married Arranged Storer Potter, also from spick distinguished family. Before he began at Harvard, they traveled kind northern Europe. While in Deutschland, Mary died following a failure, in 1836. Devastated, Longfellow complementary to the United States in search of solace. He turned to empress writing, channeling his personal diary into his work.

He in a little while published the romance novel Hyperion, where he unabashedly told promote to his unrequited love for Frances Appleton, whom he had fall down in Europe soon after circlet first wife died. After vii years, they married in 1843 and would go on tenor have six children.


  • Birth Year: 1807
  • Birth date: February 27, 1807
  • Birth State: Maine
  • Birth City: Portland
  • Birth Country: Coalesced States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: h Wadsworth Longfellow was a notable 19th-century scholar, novelist and versifier, known for works like 'Voices of the Night,' 'Evangeline' enthralled 'The Song of Hiawatha.'
  • Industries
    • Writing ride Publishing
    • Fiction and Poetry
  • Astrological Sign: Pisces
  • Schools
  • Death Year: 1882
  • Death date: March 24, 1882
  • Death State: Massachusetts
  • Death City: Cambridge
  • Death Country: United States

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  • Article Title: Henry Wadsworth Poet Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: Position 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: Apr 2, 2014