Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A 19th-century poet who turned American history and folklore into accessible, musical verse, making him a household name across the nation.
1807–1882 (age 75)·American poet and educator·Birthday: February 27
Biography
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was, for generations of Americans, the face of poetry. A professor of modern languages at Harvard, he was a scholar of immense erudition, yet his verse possessed a gentle, narrative clarity that resonated in parlors and schoolrooms. He transformed the raw material of the national past—the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the courtship of Miles Standish, the tragedy of the Acadian expulsion in 'Evangeline'—into polished, memorable stories. His long poem 'The Song of Hiawatha,' with its distinctive trochaic tetrameter borrowed from Finnish epic, sought to create a mythology for the continent's Indigenous peoples. Longfellow's personal life was marked by profound tragedy, including the death of his first wife during a miscarriage and the horrific burning death of his second wife, Fanny, which left him physically and emotionally scarred. In his later years, he undertook a monumental translation of Dante's 'Divine Comedy,' a work of solitary dedication. His beard grew white, his visage dignified, and he became less a man than a national monument, a kindly grandfather figure who gave America a poetic voice it could understand and cherish.
#1 When Henry Was Born
The biggest hits of 1807
Henry's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1807Born
1812Started school
1820Became a teenager
1823Could drive
1825Could vote
1828Turned 21
1837Turned 30
1847Turned 40
1857Turned 50
1867Turned 60
President: Andrew Johnson
1877Turned 70
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1882Died at 75
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
Key Achievements
- Wrote iconic narrative poems like 'Paul Revere's Ride,' 'The Song of Hiawatha,' and 'Evangeline' that entered the American cultural bloodstream.
- Became the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's entire 'Divine Comedy' into English.
- Was one of the group known as the Fireside Poets, whose domestic themes and accessible style made poetry popular for a wide audience.
- Had his bust placed in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London, a rare honor for an American.
Did You Know?
The spread of his poem 'Paul Revere's Ride' is largely responsible for the popular myth of Revere's solo warning ride.
He was the first American professional poet to live entirely off his writing and royalties.
He wore a large beard to cover scars sustained while trying to save his wife from a fire.
His childhood home in Portland, Maine, and his later home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are both preserved as museums.
The ship in his poem 'The Building of the Ship' was quoted by Abraham Lincoln to his cabinet during the Civil War.
“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do.”
