Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, on February 27,
1807. He entered Bowdoin College at the early age of fifteen, graduating
there in 1825. He then spent about three years abroad preparing himself
for a position, as Professor of Modern Languages at Bowdoin, which he
took on his return. There he remained six years, leaving in 1834 to
become a professor in Harvard College. His first book of poems, _Voices
of the Night_, appeared in 1839, and two years later he published
_Ballads and other Poems_. Both volumes were received cordially and had
a wide circulation. Other important later works were _Evangeline_
(1847), _Hiawatha_ (1855), _The Courtship of Miles Standish_ (1858), and
_Tales of a Wayside Inn_ (finished 1873). In 1854 he left off teaching
and settled down to a quiet literary life. During a trip to Europe in
1868 he was given honorary degrees by both Oxford and Cambridge. He died
in Boston in 1882. It is a testimonial to his popularity in England that
his bust was placed in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, the only
memorial to an American author there.
Longfellow was a scholarly and cultured poet, influenced much by foreign
literatures and proficient in translation. His verse is rarely
impassioned, but is usually simple, smooth, and polished. America has
had no finer narrative poet; and it is unquestionable that this form of
poetry was well adapted to his genius, which was fluent, but not often
strongly emotional.