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Biography
Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, and educated at
Bowdoin College. Though his father hoped his son would become
a lawyer, Longfellow proved such an excellent student of
languages that Bowdoin hired him as its first professor of
modern languages. In 1836 he moved to Harvard, where he taught
European literatures of many different periods and created
an important anthology, The Poets and Poetry of Europe (1845),
that helped make European poetry accessible to the general
American public. In his own poetry, Longfellow followed the
examples of these European styles, transforming classical
Greek or Finnish folk meters into his own truly American
creations. Longfellow's second wife, Fanny Appleton, was
a Boston heiress whose money allowed the couple to live in
relative sumptuousness. When Fanny was fatally burned in
1861, Longfellow turned in his despair to translating Dante's Divine
Comedy. At his death, Longfellow was the most popular
and beloved poet of his time.
Explorations
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Longfellow was
one of the most popular poets writing in English; but as
a professor, a scholar, and an American "bard" in an Emersonian sense,
he aspired to provide intellectual and cultural leadership,
not pander to the public. Deeply learned in the classical
languages, Longfellow believed that the new nation needed
a poet who could express collective aspirations, help lay
claim to a heroic past, and affirm our place in this landscape.
Much of his poetry reveals those values and intentions. 1. The Slave's Dream (1842) and The Jewish
Cemetery at Newport (1854) are both about the lives
and values of "others" -- people envisioned as out beyond
or alien to the culture and values of Longfellow's intended
audience. These alien dead may be invoked, in other words,
as vicarious experiences or lessons for a white Christian
audience. Where do you see these subjects portrayed with
individuality and a measure of understanding? Where do
you see archetypes or stereotypes -- and what might be
the intention of that stereotyping?
2. Compare the final stanzas of The Slave's Dream and The
Jewish Cemetery at Newport as meditations on death
and on the meaning of the life or lives ended. What are
the consolations for the dead? How do we reconcile the
mood and theme of these final stanzas with the theme
of the opening two stanzas of A Psalm of Life (1838)?
3. The most famous metaphor in A Psalm of Life is
in stanza VII, about "Footsteps on the sands of time." Is
this metaphor about lasting effect? About futility? Is
a life "sublime" in an aesthetic sense? A moral or spiritual
sense? If the poem supposedly comes from "the Heart of
the Young Man," is there a philosophical premise supporting
it? In other words, where does this idea about "life" come
from or find its validation?
Other sites to consult:
Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow: American Poet, Educator, Linguist.
Includes a number of online poems, a biography, and
information about the cities where the poet lived.
The
New England Renaissance. Scroll down the
page to access a two-part biography and analyses
of different aspects of Longfellow's works.
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/poetry/longfel/hwlindex.htm, “Recollecting
Longfellow,” from the Atlantic Monthly.
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=144: The Academy
of American Poets on Longfellow.
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