Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Music is the universal language of mankind-
  poetry their universal pastime and delight.

2
1807-1882

• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vDsKJom0yKnQ
• His work was published into two dozen languages.
• Born in Portland, Maine.
• He attended Bowdoin College, and Nathaniel
  Hawthorne was one of his classmates. He taught
  at Bowdoin for five years and then accepted a job
  at Harvard, teaching there for 18 years.

3
His Personal Life.....

• He suffered the death of two wives.
• IN 1831 he married Mary Porter while traveling
  in Europe she suffered a miscarriage and died of
  the resulting infection.
• Eight years later he married Frances Appleton.
  In 1861, Frances was fatally burned in a
  household accident. Longfellow was badly burned
  in the attempt to put out the flames.

4
Longfellow as a poet....

• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vdIwqSMhdXq0
• He published his first collection of poems,
  Voices of the Night, in 1839.
• His poems appealed to a general audience, making
  him one of the most popular poets of his time.
• Trying to maintain a connection to the past, he
  found subjects for his poetry in American
  history.
• His poems gave readers a romanticized view of
  America during its infancy and expressed
  democratic ideals of the young nation.

5
Longfellow was and is the most popular poet
America has ever produced (146).

• He has become a household name
• The values he endorsed were positive forces in
  the making of American character (146).
• Longfellows poems are still popular today.

6
Perhaps you recognize some of these lines

• Listen my children, and you shall hear Of the
  midnight ride of Paul Revere Paul Reveres
  Ride
• I shot an arrow into the air It fell to earth, I
  knew not where The Arrow and the Song

7
Longfellows poetry has been criticized for being
overly optimistic and sentimental.Nevertheless,
it was his optimism that made him so popular. He
was the first American poet to reach a wide
audience and create a national interest in
poetry.
8
A Psalm of Life

• He wrote this after the death of his first wife,
  learning it was possible to find solace and
  courage in his work to help him overcome his
  grief.
• This poem was intended to serve as an inspiration
  to himself and to others to strive to overcome
  the tragedies and misfortunes of the past and
  and to live energetically and productively as
  possible in the present.

9
His wife having died in Germany, Longfellow drew
on the influence of German literature for this
poem.
10
His poem reflects the following German motto

• Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not
  back again. Wisely improve the present. It is
  thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future,
  without fear, and with a manly heart.

11
This poem was intended to be a series. He did
write several more, but they are not as easily
identified.

• https//www.youtube.com/watch?viSXb1vjhmEA

12
Although A Psalm of Life enjoyed popularity and
critical acclaim in Longfellows time, it has
been attacked by many modern critics as being
trite and overly sentimental.
13
The Cross of Snow

• This poem was discovered after his death he had
  chosen not to show it to anyone
• Perhaps it was too close to his heart as it
  mourns the loss of his wife.
• This poem is a sonnet- a fourteen line poem
  written in iambic pentameter with an intricate
  pattern of rhyme.

14
The Ropewalk

• Simple poem
• It opens in a rope factory, but the speakers
  imagination begins to wander as he imagines what
  the rope might be used for.
• The sights Longfellow describes would be common
  to someone who lived in this time.
• Also, people of this time were increasingly aware
  of the dehumanizing effect of factory work.

15
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

• What qualities do you associate with the tides?
• Which do you not associate with it?
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vIyCmpsWMbjE