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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Born on the coast of Maine, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow began teaching at Bowdoin and Harvard and published long narrative poems that drew on New England mythology and legend. Evangeline made him famous; Miles Standish made him rich. He was known in Cambridge for his flowing hair, his yellow gloves, and the happy hospitality of his home. But when his second wife died in a household fire, Longfellow descended into grief. He turned away from the joy of his poetry and began a translation of Dante’s Inferno, content closer to his tortured heart. He died at seventy-five, America’s most distinguished poet.
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Immortal Poets: Their Lives and Verse, by Christopher Burns |