Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Biography

Famous Poet in American Literature

Feb 15, 2009
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American Poet - Wikimedia Commons

Biography of American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, famous for The Song of Hiawatha and The Courtship of Miles Standish.

Longfellow wrote some of the most loved and best-known poems in American literature, including "The Day is Done" and "Paul Revere's Ride." He was the first American to be honored with a bust in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Early Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine on February 27, 1807, with his family tracing back to the Plymouth Pilgrims. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, where Nathaniel Hawthorne had been his classmate.

Before he concentrated on poetry, Longfellow spent his early career teaching foreign languages, first at Bowdoin and later at Harvard. He was one of the few American poets who were so popular. He could support himself by writing.

Life Tragedies

Unfortunately, his private life was filled with sadness. His first wife, Mary Storer Potter, died shortly after they were married, and his second wife, Frances "Fanny" Appleton, was killed in a fire. His many poems reflect this sadness. He died at the age of 75, March 24, 1882.

Gift of Poetry

Longfellow had the gift for romantic storytelling. He published his first book of verse, Voices of the Night, when he was 32. This brought him wide public recognition. Two years later, he published Ballads, which contains some of his most famous poems, including "The Village Blacksmith."

He became known for his long poems telling stories by using simple ideas and language based on American history and mythology. These include The Song of Hiawatha, a tale from Native-American legends; The Courtship of Miles Standish, a romance set in the early days of the Pilgrim Fathers; and Evangeline, the story of the French exiles of France's colonies in North America.