Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) was a poet most well known for "The Psalm of Life", "The Light of the Stars", “Paul Revere’s Ride", and "The Village Blacksmith."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: BritannicaHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, (born February 27, 1807, Portland, Massachusetts [now in Maine], U.S.—died March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts), the most popular American poet in the 19th century, known for such works as The Song of Hiawatha (1855) and “Paul Revere’s Ride” (1863).
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poetry FoundationHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the most widely known and best-loved American poets of the 19th century.
Research & Reference
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Oxford BibliographiesIt is not an exaggeration to say that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (b. 1807–d. 1882) was one of the world’s most popular and widely read poets. However, in a spectacular turn of events, he lost much of his reputation and influence during the early half of the 20th century. This was partly due to the modernists’ insistence on complexity and their injunction to “make it new” (Ezra Pound), which did not sit well with Longfellow’s documented conviction that all writing was essentially rewriting.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems & Other WritingsNo American writer of the 19th century was more universally enjoyed and admired than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His works were extraordinary bestsellers for their era, achieving fame both here and abroad. Now, for the first time in over 25 years, The Library of America offers a full-scale literary portrait of America’s greatest popular poet.
- Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth: American National BiographyAmerican National Biography on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
A Psalm of Life - H. W. Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and writer who was revered for his lyric poetry, which often presented stories of mythology and legend. He became one of the most popular American poets of his day and had much success overseas.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkIi68Ijk8I
Author's Works & Perspectives
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings
No American writer of the nineteenth century was more universally enjoyed and admired than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His works were extraordinary bestsellers for their era, achieving fame both here and abroad. Now, for the first time in over twenty-five years, The Library of America offers a full-scale literary portrait of America's greatest popular poet. Here are the poems that created an American mythology: Evangeline in the forest primeval, Hiawatha by the shores of Gitche Gumee, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the wreck of the Hesperus, the village blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree, the strange courtship of Miles Standish, the maiden Priscilla and the hesitant John Alden; verses like "A Psalm of Life" and "The Children's Hour," whose phrases and characters have become part of the culture. Here as well, along with the public antislavery poems, are the sparer, darker lyrics--"The Fire of Drift-Wood," "Mezzo Cammin," "Snow-Flakes," and many others--that show a more austere aspect of Longfellow's poetic gift. Erudite and fluent in many languages, Longfellow was endlessly fascinated with the byways of history and the curiosities of legend. As a verse storyteller he had no peer, whether in the great book-length narratives such as Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha (both included in full) or the stories collected in Tales of a Wayside Inn (reprinted here in a generous selection). His many poems on literary themes, such as his moving homages to Dante and Chaucer, his verse translations from Lope de Vega, Heinrich Heine, and Michelangelo, and his ambitious verse dramas, notably The New England Tragedies (also complete), are remarkable in their range and ambition. As a special feature, this volume restores to print Longfellow's novel Kavanagh, a study of small-town life and literary ambition that was praised by Emerson as an important contribution to the development of American fiction. A selection of essays rounds out of the volume and provides testimony of Longfellow's concern with creating an American national literature. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
The Children's Hour
Of all of Longfellow's beloved poems (and there are many) none is so personal, so sunny, or so touching as this affectionate love letter to his three daughters, "grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, and Edith with the golden hair." Longfellow's happiest hours were spent writing on a cluttered desk by the south window of his beloved Craigie House, an imposing mansion still preserved on Cambridge's famous Brattle Street. It was here that most of the action takes place (except for his literary reference, and brief excursion, to the "Mouse-Tower on the Rhine"), here that his daughters come creeping down the stairs to beard the gentle, genial poet in his lair. Lang's luminous illustrations perfectly capture the happy atmosphere of that house, the author's affections for his daughters, and the painterly quality of his verse. This book for young readers presents one of the sweetest poems in the English language, her newly illustrated, beautifully presented, and now available to a new generation of readers.