THE YOUNG PROFESSOR
When Longfellow graduated from college he was a young man of nineteen,
slender, well built, and graceful. He had blue eyes and light-brown hair
which he wore rather heavy about his head. In his dress he was somewhat
fastidious, and afterward certain people were inclined to make fun of his
variety of neckties and light vests. But he always showed the best of
taste.
His father wished him to be a lawyer. But in the year that he graduated
a new professorship was founded at Bowdoin, the professorship of modern
languages, and he was chosen to fill it. Before that, Latin and Greek had
been considered the only languages worth studying. But French, German,
Italian, and Spanish were demanding attention.
The story is that, while a student in college, Longfellow had written
a metrical translation of one of Horace’s odes, which he had read at
a general examination. One of the examiners, the Hon. Benjamin Orr, a
distinguished lawyer of Maine, was greatly struck with this translation,
which seemed to him especially beautiful. He was one of the board of
trustees, and when the new professorship was created he nominated the
future poet, speaking of this translation as evidence of his ability to
fill the position.
Longfellow was only nineteen years old, and the proposition came to him
as a great surprise. As a preparation he was to be allowed to spend
three years in Europe. By this time he was anxious to enter a literary
career, and this seemed to be just the chance. His father consented and
he prepared to set out for Europe, though he did not start until the
following spring.
What his experiences were abroad, you may learn by reading “Outre-Mer.”
This book is partly a story, but in reality it describes Longfellow’s
journeyings through Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. He went from New
York on a slow sailing vessel; but his trip was a pleasant one, and he
seemed always to be lucky, as he was through life.
At last, at twenty-two, he found himself a professor in Bowdoin College,
and quite a distinguished young man. His “April Day” and “Woods in
Winter,” two short poems, had been copied in many newspapers, and had
even got into the reading books of that day. His name was not attached
to any of these, and no one thought of him as a great poet. It must be
remembered that teaching was hereafter the business of his life; and a
very faithful teacher he was. Up to this time, and for long afterward, he
did not receive any money whatever for his poetry, though occasionally
some was promised him.
He studied very hard. He knew German thoroughly well, and also French,
Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, and even something of other modern
languages. In those days people knew very little about these languages,
and few supposed they had literature that was worth anything. Longfellow
became a great scholar in them, however, and translated poetry from
nearly all of them. If you look in his complete works you will find a
great many poems marked as translations from German, or Spanish, or
Swedish, or some other language. Many of these were printed in learned
essays which he wrote and published in the _North American Review_.
He was very popular as a teacher. He seemed to the boys like one of
themselves, and he was very sympathetic with them. Yet they all respected
him, and treated him politely. They thought that he would some time be
a famous man, and yet it seemed more as if he would be a great scholar,
than a popular poet whom everybody, boys and girls as well as grown-up
people, could understand and like.