HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, in 1807.
He became the best-selling, most widely quoted American author
in an era in which poets were accorded the status now reserved
for rock stars. Remarkably, while topping the bestseller lists
of the nineteenth century, Longfellow was an internationally respected
scholar. He spoke seven languages and understood nearly twice
that number. His translation of Dante's Divine Comedy was utilized (and complimented, both
for its art and its accuracy) 125 years after its original publication,
by American Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, in his own translation
of Dante.
Longfellow was appointed Professor of Modern Languages at Bowdoin
College at age 18, immediately upon graduation from that institution.
By age 27, he accepted the Smith Chair in Modern Languages at
Harvard. He vacated that position in 1854, in part to escape the
demands on his time and energies, but also because, to put it
directly, he did not need the salary to supplement his poetic
income—he was paid as much as $3000 for a poem. Personally,
he was a great and good friend, a fine family man, and a loyal
and gracious correspondent. He undertook to respond to a great
many of the unsolicited letters he received from an admiring but
unknown public, although his journals reveal the degree of imposition
that placed on him.
He married Mary Storer Potter in 1831. She accompanied him on
his second European trip, which he undertook in order to prepare
himself for his Harvard position. His young wife died in Rotterdam,
of complications following a miscarriage. In 1843 he married Frances
Appleton, whose father purchased the Craigie House near Harvard
for them as a wedding present. Longfellow had boarded in the house,
which already had an illustrious history—it had served as
Washington's Revolutionary War headquarters for a time. Today,
it is the Longfellow
National Historic Site, recently restored to former glory,
administered by the National
Park Service, and welcoming visitors.
Frances Appleton Longfellow—Fanny—died tragically in
1861. She was sealing a package of locks of hair from her daughters
when her light summer dress caught fire. She ran to her husband,
who attempted to smother the flames with a rug. She died the next
day. Longfellow was unable to attend her burial due to the severity
of his own burns. These burns were the occasion for growing the
full beard that we commonly associate with him.
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