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94-431: The group is typically thought to include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , William Cullen Bryant , John Greenleaf Whittier , James Russell Lowell , and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. , who were the first American poets whose popularity rivaled that of British poets , both at home and abroad. Ralph Waldo Emerson is occasionally included in the group as well. The name "fireside poets" is derived from that popularity; their writing

188-559: A district of Massachusetts . Although he was born at the now-demolished 159–161 Fore Street , he grew up in what is now known as the Wadsworth-Longfellow House on Congress Street . His father was a lawyer, and his maternal grandfather was Peleg Wadsworth , a general in the American Revolutionary War and a Member of Congress. His mother was descended from Richard Warren , a passenger on

282-557: A "goody two-shoes kind of literature ... slipshod, sentimental stories told in the style of the nursery, beginning in nothing and ending in nothing". A more modern critic said, "Who, except wretched schoolchildren, now reads Longfellow?" A London critic in the London Quarterly Review , however, condemned all American poetry—"with two or three exceptions, there is not a poet of mark in the whole union"—but he singled out Longfellow as one of those exceptions. An editor of

376-413: A 20th-century scholar who asked, "Who, except wretched schoolchildren, now reads Longfellow?" Longfellow was particularly criticized. Literary scholar Kermit Vanderbilt noted, "Increasingly rare is the scholar who braves ridicule to justify the art of Longfellow's popular rhymings." Twentieth-century poet Lewis Turco called Longfellow a minor and derivative poet who was "nothing more than a hack imitator of

470-499: A 31-volume anthology called Poems of Places which collected poems representing several geographical locations, including European, Asian, and Arabian countries. Emerson was disappointed and reportedly told Longfellow: "The world is expecting better things of you than this ... You are wasting time that should be bestowed upon original production". In preparing the volume, Longfellow hired Katherine Sherwood Bonner as an amanuensis . Fellow Portland, Maine, native John Neal published

564-442: A Gothic Green Room ! Not all poets appreciated memorialisation and Samuel Wesley 's epitaph for Samuel Butler , who supposedly died in poverty, continued Butler's satiric tone: While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, No generous patron would a dinner give; See him, when starv'd to death, and turn'd to dust, Presented with a monumental bust. The poet's fate is here in emblem shown, He ask'd for bread, and he received

658-449: A ball without her and noted, "The lights seemed dimmer, the music sadder, the flowers fewer, and the women less fair." He and Fanny had six children: Charles Appleton (1844–1893), Ernest Wadsworth (1845–1921), Fanny (1847–1848), Alice Mary (1850–1928), Edith (1853–1915), and Anne Allegra (1855–1934). Their second-youngest daughter was Edith who married Richard Henry Dana III , son of Richard Henry Dana Jr. who wrote Two Years Before

752-801: A commemorative bust was placed in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London; he remains the only American poet represented with a bust. A public monument by Franklin Simmons was erected in Longfellow's birthplace of Portland, Maine, in September 1888. In 1909, a statue of Longfellow was unveiled in Washington, DC, sculpted by William Couper . He was honored in February 1940 and March 2007 when

846-478: A contemporary audience of general readers. Emerson once wrote, "I embrace the common, I explore and sit at the feet of the familiar, the low." A culminating event was the 70th birthday party of Whittier in 1877 organized by publisher Henry Oscar Houghton , editor of the Atlantic Monthly . The event was meant to serve as a symbol of the magazine's association with the poets. Most of them were present for

940-415: A farewell dinner party at his Cambridge home for his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne , who was preparing to move overseas. In 1854, he retired from Harvard, devoting himself entirely to writing. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from Harvard in 1859. Frances was putting locks of her children's hair into an envelope on July 9, 1861 and attempting to seal it with hot sealing wax while Longfellow took

1034-471: A grave exactly 18 inches square from the monarch and received an upright grave to fit in the requested space. As well as the gravestone in the north aisle of the nave, a wall tablet commemorating Jonson was later erected in Poets' Corner. As floor and wall space began to run out, the decision was taken to install a stained glass memorial window (unveiled in 1994 in memory of Edward Horton Hubbard ), and it

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1128-509: A letter from Josiah Quincy III , president of Harvard College, offering him the Smith Professorship of Modern Languages with the stipulation that he spend a year or so abroad. There, he further studied German as well as Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, and Icelandic. In October 1835, his wife Mary had a miscarriage during the trip, about six months into her pregnancy. She did not recover and died after several weeks of illness at

1222-633: A letter from Fanny Appleton agreeing to marry him. He was too restless to take a carriage and walked 90 minutes to meet her at her house. They were soon married; Nathan Appleton bought the Craigie House as a wedding present, and Longfellow lived there for the rest of his life. His love for Fanny is evident in the following lines from his only love poem, the sonnet "The Evening Star" which he wrote in October 1845: "O my beloved, my sweet Hesperus ! My morning and my evening star of love!" He once attended

1316-490: A location elsewhere in the Abbey due to the discovery of old paintings on the wall behind them. In 1936 the ashes of the author and poet Rudyard Kipling were interred. The memorials can take several forms. Some are stone slabs set in the floor with a name and inscription carved on them, while others are more elaborate and carved stone monuments, or hanging stone tablets, or memorial busts. Some are commemorated in groups, such as

1410-446: A nap. Her dress suddenly caught fire, but it is unclear exactly how; burning wax or a lighted candle may have fallen onto it. Longfellow was awakened from his nap and rushed to help her, throwing a rug over her, but it was too small. He stifled the flames with his body, but she was badly burned. Longfellow's youngest daughter Annie explained the story differently some 50 years later, claiming that there had been no candle or wax but that

1504-409: A new Longfellow or a new Lowell could now become a real force in our national life". Professor Lawrence Buell wrote that modern scholars "value [them] less than the nineteenth century did but still regard [them] as the mainstream of nineteenth-century New England verse." Their work was increasingly emphasized in the classroom, so many of these poets were dismissed merely as children's poets, as noted by

1598-436: A panel in the memorial window. On 6 December 2011, former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was commemorated with a floor stone. On 22 November 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, writer C. S. Lewis was commemorated with a memorial floor stone. The poet Philip Larkin was commemorated with a floor stone dedicated on 2 December 2016. The first poet interred in Poets' Corner, Geoffrey Chaucer , owed his 1400 burial in

1692-496: A popular audience as "the expressor of common themes—of the little songs of the masses". He added, "Longfellow was no revolutionarie: never traveled new paths: of course never broke new paths." Lewis Mumford said that Longfellow could be completely removed from the history of literature without much effect. Toward the end of his life, contemporaries considered him as more of a children's poet , as many of his readers were children. A reviewer in 1848 accused Longfellow of creating

1786-545: A six-month leave of absence from Harvard University to attend a health spa in the former Marienberg Benedictine Convent at Boppard in Germany. After returning, he published the play The Spanish Student in 1842, reflecting his memories from his time in Spain in the 1820s. The small collection Poems on Slavery was published in 1842 as Longfellow's first public support of abolitionism. However, as Longfellow himself wrote,

1880-467: A stone. Some of those buried in Poets' Corner also had memorials erected to them over or near their grave, either around the time of their death or later. In some cases, such as Joseph Addison , the burial took place elsewhere in Westminster Abbey, with a memorial later erected in Poets' Corner. In some cases a full burial of a body took place, in other, later, cases the body was cremated and

1974-566: A time and focused on translating works from foreign languages. Longfellow died in 1882. Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and had success overseas. He has been criticized for imitating European styles and writing poetry that was too sentimental. Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, to Stephen Longfellow and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow in Portland, Maine , then

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2068-558: A word, we want a national literature altogether shaggy and unshorn, that shall shake the earth, like a herd of buffaloes thundering over the prairies. He was important as a translator; his translation of Dante became a required possession for those who wanted to be a part of high culture. He encouraged and supported other translators, as well. In 1845, he published The Poets and Poetry of Europe , an 800-page compilation of translations made by other writers, including many by his friend and colleague Cornelius Conway Felton . Longfellow intended

2162-507: Is buried with both of his wives at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His last few years were spent translating the poetry of Michelangelo . Longfellow never considered it complete enough to be published during his lifetime, but a posthumous edition was collected in 1883. Scholars generally regard the work as autobiographical, reflecting the translator as an aging artist facing his impending death. Much of Longfellow's work

2256-414: Is categorized as lyric poetry , but he experimented with many forms, including hexameter and free verse . His published poetry shows great versatility, using anapestic and trochaic forms, blank verse , heroic couplets , ballads , and sonnets . Typically, he would carefully consider the subject of his poetic ideas for a long time before deciding on the right metrical form for it. Much of his work

2350-455: Is depicted as bedtime for a cranky child. Many of the metaphors that he used in his poetry came from legends, mythology, and literature. He was inspired, for example, by Norse mythology for " The Skeleton in Armor " and by Finnish legends for The Song of Hiawatha . Longfellow rarely wrote on current subjects and seemed detached from contemporary American concerns. Even so, he called for

2444-510: Is here that new names are added in the form of inscribed panes of glass. There is room for 20 names, and currently there are six names on this window, with the latest entry ( Elizabeth Gaskell ) unveiled on 25 September 2010. The memorial ceremonies often include guest speakers. In 1995, Oscar Wilde was commemorated in the window and those in attendance included Sir John Gielgud and Dame Judi Dench who both read extracts from his work. Our almost-instinct almost true: What will survive of us

2538-603: Is instead a generalized poem of mourning. The death of his second wife Frances, as biographer Charles Calhoun wrote, deeply affected Longfellow personally but "seemed not to touch his poetry, at least directly". His memorial poem to her was the sonnet "The Cross of Snow" and was not published in his lifetime. Longfellow often used didacticism in his poetry, but he focused on it less in his later years. Much of his poetry imparts cultural and moral values, particularly focused on life being more than material pursuits. He often used allegory in his work. In "Nature", for example, death

2632-496: Is love. The memorial in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, to 16 Great War poets is a slate stone slab with the names of the poets inscribed on it. It was unveiled on 11 November 1985, the 67th anniversary of the Armistice . An additional inscription quotes Owen 's "Preface": My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. The symbol indicates poets who died during the war. The stone slab floor memorial to

2726-430: Is recognized for its melodious musicality. As he says, "what a writer asks of his reader is not so much to like as to listen ". As a very private man, Longfellow did not often add autobiographical elements to his poetry. Two notable exceptions are dedicated to the death of members of his family. "Resignation" was written as a response to the death of his daughter Fanny in 1848; it does not use first-person pronouns and

2820-730: Is the rock I see ahead just now, & I fear we may go to pieces on it if we don't look sharp." Holmes died in 1894, the last of the fireside poets, and one literary magazine called it "the closing of an era in American literature". Critics, meanwhile, began re-examining the role of these poets in the canon and distinguishing between popularity and aesthetics. As the twentieth century began, academics began to turn to poets such as Walt Whitman , Edwin Arlington Robinson , and Robert Frost . Anthologist Edmund Clarence Stedman released his exhaustive An American Anthology, 1787–1900 , and

2914-543: The Broadway Journal , for which he was the editor at the time. Longfellow did not respond publicly but, after Poe's death, he wrote: "The harshness of his criticisms I have never attributed to anything but the irritation of a sensitive nature chafed by some indefinite sense of wrong". Margaret Fuller judged Longfellow "artificial and imitative" and lacking force. Poet Walt Whitman considered him an imitator of European forms, but he praised his ability to reach

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3008-610: The Mayflower . He was named after his mother's brother Henry Wadsworth, a Navy lieutenant who had died three years earlier at the Battle of Tripoli . He was the second of eight children. Longfellow was descended from English colonists who settled in New England in the early 1600s. They included Mayflower Pilgrims Richard Warren , William Brewster , and John and Priscilla Alden through their daughter Elizabeth Pabodie ,

3102-486: The Boston Evening Transcript wrote in 1846, "Whatever the miserable envy of trashy criticism may write against Longfellow, one thing is most certain, no American poet is more read". Longfellow was the most popular poet of his day. As a friend once wrote, "no other poet was so fully recognized in his lifetime". Many of his works helped shape the American character and its legacy, particularly with

3196-678: The United States Postal Service issued stamps commemorating him. As a memorial to their father, Longfellow's children donated land across Brattle Street and facing the family home to the City of Cambridge, which became Longfellow Park. A monument featuring a bas relief of Miles Standish, Sadalphon, the Village Blacksmith, the Spanish Student, Evangeline, and Hiawatha, characters from Longfellow's works,

3290-663: The 20th century, literary scholar Kermit Vanderbilt noted: "Increasingly rare is the scholar who braves ridicule to justify the art of Longfellow's popular rhymings." Twentieth-century poet Lewis Putnam Turco concluded that "Longfellow was minor and derivative in every way throughout his career ... nothing more than a hack imitator of the English Romantics." Author Nicholas A. Basbanes , in his 2020 book Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , defended Longfellow as "the victim of an orchestrated dismissal that may well be unique in American literary history". Over

3384-539: The 21st century. Their influence was furthered by their long lives, as well as their other high-profile activities, including serving as professors and academic chairs, editing popular newspapers, serving as foreign diplomats, giving popular speeches, and translating works by Dante and Homer . These poets' general adherence to poetic convention (standard forms , regular meter , and rhymed stanzas ) made their body of work particularly suitable for memorization and recitation in school and at home. Only Emerson rejected

3478-459: The Abbey (in front of St. Benedict's Chapel) more to his position as Clerk of Works of the Palace of Westminster than to his fame as a writer. The erection of his tomb by Nicholas Brigham in 1556 (to where Chaucer's remains were then transferred) and the nearby burial of Edmund Spenser in 1599 began a tradition that still continues. The area also houses the tombs of several Canons and Deans of

3572-460: The Abbey, as well as the grave of Thomas Parr who, it is said, died at the age of 152 in 1635 after having seen ten sovereigns on the throne. Burial or commemoration in the Abbey does not always occur at or soon after the time of death. Lord Byron , for example, whose poetry was admired but who maintained a scandalous lifestyle, died in 1824 but was not given a memorial until 1969. Even William Shakespeare , buried at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616,

3666-466: The British Islands only, and essentially form a second England only — which is a very great mistake". Longfellow, Lowell, and Holmes are featured in the bestselling novel The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl , published in 2003. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include

3760-467: The English Romantics." Holmes, according to one modern scholar, is now the least likely of the Fireside Poets to be anthologized. Many of the new and emerging poets displayed resentment towards America's poetic past, including T. S. Eliot . An exception was Robert Frost, who named his first book A Boy's Will after a line by Longfellow. Wallace Stevens was a student at Harvard College when

3854-564: The Mast . Their daughter Fanny was born on April 7, 1847, and Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep administered ether to the mother as the first obstetric anesthetic in the United States. Longfellow published his epic poem Evangeline for the first time a few months later on November 1, 1847. His literary income was increasing considerably; in 1840, he had made $ 219 from his work, but 1850 brought him $ 1,900. On June 14, 1853, Longfellow held

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3948-647: The Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). He retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing, and he lived the remainder of his life in the Revolutionary War headquarters of George Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts . His first wife, Mary Potter, died in 1835 after a miscarriage. His second wife, Frances Appleton, died in 1861 after sustaining burns when her dress caught fire. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for

4042-629: The Night was translations, but he included nine original poems and seven poems that he had written as a teenager. Ballads and Other Poems was published in 1841 and included " The Village Blacksmith " and " The Wreck of the Hesperus ", which were instantly popular. He became part of the local social scene, creating a group of friends who called themselves the Five of Clubs. Members included Cornelius Conway Felton , George Stillman Hillard , and Charles Sumner ; Sumner became Longfellow's closest friend over

4136-711: The Portland Gazette on November 17, 1820, a patriotic and historical four-stanza poem called "The Battle of Lovell's Pond". He studied at the Portland Academy until age 14. He spent much of his summers as a child at his grandfather Peleg's farm in Hiram, Maine . In the fall of 1822, 15-year-old Longfellow enrolled at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine , along with his brother Stephen. His grandfather

4230-541: The Sea in serial form before a book edition was released in 1835. Shortly after the book's publication, Longfellow attempted to join the literary circle in New York and asked George Pope Morris for an editorial role at one of Morris's publications. He considered moving to New York after New York University proposed offering him a newly created professorship of modern languages, but there would be no salary. The professorship

4324-456: The age of 22 on November 29, 1835. Longfellow had her body embalmed immediately and placed in a lead coffin inside an oak coffin, which was shipped to Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston. He was deeply saddened by her death and wrote: "One thought occupies me night and day...She is dead – She is dead! All day I am weary and sad". Three years later, he was inspired to write the poem "Footsteps of Angels" about her. Several years later, he wrote

4418-503: The anthology "to bring together, into a compact and convenient form, as large an amount as possible of those English translations which are scattered through many volumes, and are not accessible to the general reader". In honor of his role with translations, Harvard established the Longfellow Institute in 1994, dedicated to literature written in the United States in languages other than English. In 1874, Longfellow oversaw

4512-421: The ashes buried. There are also cases where there was support for a particular individual to be buried in Poets' Corner, but the decision was made to bury them elsewhere in the Abbey, such as Edward Bulwer-Lytton . Other notable poets and writers, such as Aphra Behn , are buried elsewhere in the Abbey. At least two of the memorials (both to individuals buried in Poets' Corner – Rowe and Gay ) were later moved to

4606-457: The best poet in America". Poe's reputation increased as a critic, however, and he later publicly accused Longfellow of plagiarism in what Poe biographers call "The Longfellow War". He wrote that Longfellow was "a determined imitator and a dextrous adapter of the ideas of other people", specifically Alfred, Lord Tennyson . His accusations may have been a publicity stunt to boost readership of

4700-422: The celebration, though Lowell had recently moved to Spain. Mark Twain gave an infamous after-dinner speech in which he satirized the poets as uncouth drunkards. In his story, three impostors pretend to be Longfellow, Emerson, and Holmes, and forget which poet authored which poem. The speech was scandalous because it showed a lack of reverence and, in turn, Twain felt guilty for his transgression and wrote notes to

4794-461: The centuries, a tradition has grown up of interring or memorialising people there in recognition of their contribution to British culture . In the overwhelming majority of cases, the honour is awarded to writers. In 2009, the founders of the Royal Ballet were commemorated in a memorial floor stone and on 25 September 2010, the writer Elizabeth Gaskell was celebrated with the dedication of

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4888-637: The condition that he travel to Europe to study French, Spanish, and Italian. Whatever the catalyst, Longfellow began his tour of Europe in May 1826 aboard the ship Cadmus . His time abroad lasted three years and cost his father $ 2,604.24, the equivalent of over $ 67,000 today. He traveled to France, Spain, Italy, Germany, back to France, then to England before returning to the United States in mid-August 1829. While overseas, he learned French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, mostly without formal instruction. In Madrid, he spent time with Washington Irving and

4982-755: The courtship, Longfellow frequently walked from Cambridge to the Appleton home in Beacon Hill in Boston by crossing the Boston Bridge. That bridge was replaced in 1906 by a new bridge which was later renamed the Longfellow Bridge . In late 1839, Longfellow published Hyperion , inspired by his trips abroad and his unsuccessful courtship of Fanny Appleton. Amidst this, he fell into "periods of neurotic depression with moments of panic" and took

5076-413: The development of high quality American literature, as did many others during this period. In Kavanagh , a character says: We want a national literature commensurate with our mountains and rivers ... We want a national epic that shall correspond to the size of the country ... We want a national drama in which scope shall be given to our gigantic ideas and to the unparalleled activity of our people ... In

5170-445: The duties required". The trustees raised his salary to $ 800 with an additional $ 100 to serve as the college's librarian, a post which required one hour of work per day. During his years teaching at the college, he translated textbooks from French, Italian, and Spanish; his first published book was a translation of the poetry of medieval Spanish poet Jorge Manrique in 1833. He published the travel book Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond

5264-424: The fire had started from a self-lighting match that had fallen on the floor. Both accounts state that Frances was taken to her room to recover, and a doctor was called. She was in and out of consciousness throughout the night and was administered ether . She died shortly after 10 the next morning, July 10, after requesting a cup of coffee. Longfellow had burned himself while trying to save her, badly enough that he

5358-605: The fireside poets in the classroom. According to scholar Kevin Stein, this emphasis reflects an expectation that poetry should have didactic messages and that poems can be used for moral betterment. Young readers, however, often turn away from this type of poetry because they dislike such sermonizing tones. In 1901, Emerson and Longfellow were inducted as inaugural members of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans , which added Lowell and Whittier in 1905 and Holmes and Bryant in 1910. Longfellow

5452-428: The fireside poets were at their height; he recalled that "it was commonplace to say that all the poetry had been written". Whitman was a contemporary of the fireside poets who complained that they were too focused on reflecting English styles and themes in American poetry: "Thus far, impress'd by New England writers and schoolmasters, we tacitly abandon ourselves to the notion that our United States have been fashion'd from

5546-463: The first American celebrities and was popular in Europe. It was reported that 10,000 copies of The Courtship of Miles Standish sold in London in a single day. Children adored him; "The Village Blacksmith"'s "spreading chestnut-tree" was cut down and the children of Cambridge had it converted into an armchair which they presented to him. In 1884, Longfellow became the first non-British writer for whom

5640-540: The first child born in Plymouth Colony . Longfellow attended a dame school at the age of three and was enrolled by age six at the private Portland Academy . In his years there, he earned a reputation as being very studious and became fluent in Latin. His mother encouraged his enthusiasm for reading and learning, introducing him to Robinson Crusoe and Don Quixote . He published his first poem at age 13 in

5734-491: The first substantial praise of Longfellow's work. In the January 23, 1828, issue of his magazine The Yankee , he wrote, "As for Mr. Longfellow, he has a fine genius and a pure and safe taste, and all that he wants, we believe, is a little more energy, and a little more stoutness." Longfellow's early collections Voices of the Night and Ballads and Other Poems made him instantly popular. The New-Yorker called him "one of

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5828-460: The frontispiece artwork featured the fireside poets sharing space with Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe , and Sidney Lanier , which visually emphasized the canonical shift. Fireside poets were soon regarded as old-fashioned. In 1904, for example, The Dial noted, "The message of our older poets, it is true, has lost something of its timeliness with the lapse of years, and they have not found the successors that we could have wished; but we doubt greatly if

5922-491: The home, the widow of Andrew Craigie , and she rented rooms on the second floor. Previous boarders included Jared Sparks , Edward Everett , and Joseph Emerson Worcester . It is preserved today as the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site . Longfellow began publishing his poetry in 1839, including the collection Voices of the Night , his debut book of poetry. The bulk of Voices of

6016-422: The issue of our national life as are the common schools in which we glory. During the fifty years in which our common-school system has been growing to maturity, these six have lived and sung; and I dare to say that the lives and songs of Bryant, Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell have an imperishable value regarded as exponents of national life. Teachers through modern times have frequently emphasized

6110-556: The joint memorial for the Brontë sisters (commissioned in 1939, but not unveiled until 1947 due to the Second World War ), the sixteen First World War poets inscribed on a stone floor slab and unveiled in 1985, and the four founders of the Royal Ballet , commemorated together in 2009. The grave of Ben Jonson is not in Poets' Corner, but is in the north aisle of the nave. It has the inscription "O Rare Ben Johnson" (perhaps

6204-605: The least...the fact is, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature, my whole soul burns most ardently after it, and every earthly thought centres in it...I am almost confident in believing, that if I can ever rise in the world it must be by the exercise of my talents in the wide field of literature. He pursued his literary goals by submitting poetry and prose to various newspapers and magazines, partly due to encouragement from Professor Thomas Cogswell Upham . He published nearly 40 minor poems between January 1824 and his graduation in 1825. About 24 of them were published in

6298-404: The next 30 years. Longfellow was well liked as a professor, but he disliked being "constantly a playmate for boys" rather than "stretching out and grappling with men's minds." Longfellow met Boston industrialist Nathan Appleton and his son Thomas Gold Appleton in the town of Thun , Switzerland. There he began courting Appleton's daughter Frances "Fanny" Appleton. The independent-minded Fanny

6392-643: The northern and southern states after the American Civil War . His son Charles was injured during the war, and he wrote the poem "Christmas Bells", later the basis of the carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day . He wrote in his journal in 1878: "I have only one desire; and that is for harmony, and a frank and honest understanding between North and South". Longfellow accepted an offer from Joshua Chamberlain to speak at his fiftieth reunion at Bowdoin College, despite his aversion to public speaking. He read

6486-433: The original spelling) on the slab above it. It has been suggested that this could be read "Orare Ben Johnson" (pray for Ben Johnson), which would indicate a deathbed return to Catholicism, but the carving shows a distinct space between "O" and "rare". The fact that he was buried in an upright grave could be an indication of his reduced circumstances at the time of his death but it has also been suggested that Jonson asked for

6580-448: The poem " Paul Revere's Ride ". He was such an admired figure in the United States during his life that his 70th birthday in 1877 took on the air of a national holiday, with parades, speeches, and the reading of his poetry. Longfellow's popularity rapidly declined, beginning shortly after his death and into the 20th century, as academics focused attention on other poets such as Walt Whitman, Edwin Arlington Robinson , and Robert Frost . In

6674-570: The poem "Mezzo Cammin", which expressed his personal struggles in his middle years. Longfellow returned to the United States in 1836 and took up the professorship at Harvard. He was required to live in Cambridge to be close to the campus and, therefore, rented rooms at the Craigie House in the spring of 1837. The home was built in 1759 and was the headquarters of George Washington during the Siege of Boston beginning in July 1775. Elizabeth Craigie owned

6768-455: The poem "Morituri Salutamus" so quietly that few could hear him. The next year, he declined an offer to be nominated for the Board of Overseers at Harvard "for reasons very conclusive to my own mind". On August 22, 1879, a female admirer traveled to Longfellow's house in Cambridge and, unaware to whom she was speaking, asked him: "Is this the house where Longfellow was born?" He told her that it

6862-493: The poems " Paul Revere's Ride ", " The Song of Hiawatha ", and " Evangeline ". He was the first American to completely translate Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy and was one of the fireside poets from New England. Longfellow was born in Portland , District of Maine , Massachusetts (now Portland, Maine ). He graduated from Bowdoin College and became a professor there and, later, at Harvard College after studying in Europe. His first major poetry collections were Voices of

6956-462: The poems were "so mild that even a Slaveholder might read them without losing his appetite for breakfast". A critic for The Dial agreed, calling it "the thinnest of all Mr. Longfellow's thin books; spirited and polished like its forerunners; but the topic would warrant a deeper tone". The New England Anti-Slavery Society , however, was satisfied enough with the collection to reprint it for further distribution. On May 10, 1843, Longfellow received

7050-674: The poets apologizing for it. Longfellow's 74th birthday in 1881 was honored nationwide with celebrations in schools throughout the United States. Between 1884 and 1900, readers' polls consistently placed these poets as the nation's most important writers. Generally, these poets promoted nationalist values and, as such, were deemed especially appropriate for study among children. Horace Scudder in his 1888 book Literature in School emphasized this point: They were born on American soil; they have breathed American air; they were nurtured on American ideas. They are Americans of Americans. They are as truly

7144-532: The short-lived Boston periodical The United States Literary Gazette . When Longfellow graduated from Bowdoin, he was ranked fourth in the class and had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa . He gave the student commencement address. After graduating in 1825, Longfellow was offered a job as professor of modern languages at his alma mater. An apocryphal story claims that college trustee Benjamin Orr had been impressed by Longfellow's translation of Horace and hired him under

7238-509: The sonnet "The Cross of Snow" (1879) which he wrote 18 years later to commemorate her death: Longfellow spent several years translating Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy . To aid him in perfecting the translation and reviewing proofs, he invited friends to meetings every Wednesday starting in 1864. The "Dante Club", as it was called, regularly included William Dean Howells , James Russell Lowell , and Charles Eliot Norton , as well as other occasional guests. The full three-volume translation

7332-417: The traditional European forms that his contemporaries often utilized and instead called for new American poetic models and emphasized content over form. The poets' primary subjects were domestic life, mythology, and the politics of the United States, in which several of them were directly involved. The fireside poets did not write for the sake of other poets, for critics, or for posterity. Instead, they wrote for

7426-528: The very few in our time who has successfully aimed in putting poetry to its best and sweetest uses". The Southern Literary Messenger immediately put Longfellow "among the first of our American poets". Poet John Greenleaf Whittier said that Longfellow's poetry illustrated "the careful moulding by which art attains the graceful ease and chaste simplicity of nature". Longfellow's friend Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote of him as "our chief singer" and one who "wins and warms ... kindles, softens, cheers [and] calms

7520-457: The wildest woe and stays the bitterest tears!" The rapidity with which American readers embraced Longfellow was unparalleled in publishing history in the United States; by 1874, he was earning $ 3,000 (~$ 80,788 in 2023) per poem. His popularity spread throughout Europe as well, and his poetry was translated during his lifetime into Italian, French, German, and other languages. Scholar Bliss Perry suggests that criticizing Longfellow at that time

7614-471: The years, Longfellow's personality has become part of his reputation. He has been presented as a gentle, placid, poetic soul, an image perpetuated by his brother Samuel Longfellow who wrote an early biography which specifically emphasized these points. As James Russell Lowell said, Longfellow had an "absolute sweetness, simplicity, and modesty". At Longfellow's funeral, his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson called him "a sweet and beautiful soul". In reality, his life

7708-511: Was a founder of the college and his father was a trustee. There Longfellow met Nathaniel Hawthorne who became his lifelong friend. He boarded with a clergyman for a time before rooming on the third floor in 1823 of what is now known as Winthrop Hall. He joined the Peucinian Society , a group of students with Federalist leanings. In his senior year, Longfellow wrote to his father about his aspirations: I will not disguise it in

7802-462: Was a source of entertainment for families gathered around the fire at home. The name was further inspired by Longfellow's 1850 poetry collection The Seaside and the Fireside . Lowell published a book titled Fireside Travels in 1864 which helped solidify the title. In an era without radio, television, or Internet, these poets were able to garner a general public popularity that has no equivalent in

7896-552: Was almost a criminal act equal to "carrying a rifle into a national park". In the last two decades of his life, he often received requests for autographs from strangers, which he always sent. John Greenleaf Whittier suggested that it was this massive correspondence which led to Longfellow's death: "My friend Longfellow was driven to death by these incessant demands". Contemporaneous writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote to Longfellow in May 1841 of his "fervent admiration which [your] genius has inspired in me" and later called him "unquestionably

7990-498: Was commemorated with a bust in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London; he was the first non-British writer honored this way and remains the only American poet represented with a bust. Even before the end of the century, however, Lowell acknowledged a change in the poetic climate and feared the erasure of gentlemanly gentility in emerging poetry. He wrote to William Dean Howells : "The danger of our literature... seems to me to be lawlessness & want of scholarly refinement. This

8084-425: Was dedicated in October 1914. Sources Poet%27s Corner Poets' Corner is a section of the southern transept of Westminster Abbey in London, where many poets, playwrights, and writers are buried or commemorated. The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. William Shakespeare was commemorated with a monument in 1740, over a century after his death. Over

8178-470: Was much more difficult than was assumed. He suffered from neuralgia , which caused him constant pain, and he had poor eyesight. He wrote to friend Charles Sumner: "I do not believe anyone can be perfectly well, who has a brain and a heart". He had difficulty coping with the death of his second wife Frances. Longfellow was very quiet, reserved, and private; in later years, he was known for being unsocial and avoided leaving home. Longfellow had become one of

8272-649: Was not created and Longfellow agreed to continue teaching at Bowdoin. It may have been joyless work. He wrote, "I hate the sight of pen, ink, and paper ... I do not believe that I was born for such a lot. I have aimed higher than this". On September 14, 1831, Longfellow married Mary Storer Potter, a childhood friend from Portland. The couple settled in Brunswick, but the two were not happy there. Longfellow published several nonfiction and fiction prose pieces in 1833 inspired by Irving, including "The Indian Summer" and "The Bald Eagle". In December 1834, Longfellow received

8366-551: Was not honoured with a monument until 1740 when one designed by William Kent was constructed in Poets' Corner (though shortly after Shakespeare's death William Basse had suggested Shakespeare should be buried there). Samuel Horsley , Dean of Westminster in 1796, was said to have tartly refused the request for actress Kitty Clive to be buried in the Abbey: if we do not draw some line in this theatrical ambition to mortuary fame, we shall soon make Westminster Abbey little better than

8460-417: Was not interested in marriage, but Longfellow was determined. In July 1839, he wrote to a friend: "Victory hangs doubtful. The lady says she will not ! I say she shall ! It is not pride , but the madness of passion". His friend George Stillman Hillard encouraged him in the pursuit: "I delight to see you keeping up so stout a heart for the resolve to conquer is half the battle in love as well as war". During

8554-418: Was not. The visitor then asked if he had died here. "Not yet", he replied. In March 1882, Longfellow went to bed with severe stomach pain. He endured the pain for several days with the help of opium before he died surrounded by family on Friday, March 24. He had been suffering from peritonitis . At the time of his death, his estate was worth an estimated $ 356,320 (~$ 11.7 million in 2024 terms). He

8648-439: Was particularly impressed by the author's work ethic. Irving encouraged the young Longfellow to pursue writing. While in Spain, Longfellow was saddened to learn that his favorite sister Elizabeth had died of tuberculosis at the age of 20 in May of 1829. On August 27, 1829, he wrote to the president of Bowdoin that he was turning down the professorship because he considered the $ 600 (~$ 17,168 in 2023) salary "disproportionate to

8742-537: Was published in the spring of 1867, but Longfellow continued to revise it. It went through four printings in its first year. By 1868, Longfellow's annual income was over $ 48,000 (~$ 915,594 in 2023). In 1874, Samuel Ward helped him sell the poem "The Hanging of the Crane" to The New York Ledger for $ 3,000 (~$ 80,788 in 2023). At that time, this was the highest price ever paid for a poem. Longfellow supported abolitionism and especially hoped for reconciliation between

8836-443: Was unable to attend her funeral. His facial injuries led him to stop shaving, and he wore a beard from then on which became his trademark. Longfellow was devastated by Frances's death and never fully recovered; he occasionally resorted to laudanum and ether to deal with his grief. He worried that he would go insane, begging "not to be sent to an asylum" and noting that he was "inwardly bleeding to death". He expressed his grief in

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