Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1807—1882

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Main, into the family of a judge. He attended Bowdoin College and was so exceptional a student that soon after graduation he was offered a professorship of modern languages at the college. From that time on his life was a record of success.

At twenty-seven Longfellow became professor of modern languages and literature at Harvard, which was the best and oldest university in the United States. By that time he had twice travelled to Europe and visited half a dozen countries. He had published several textbooks and magazine articles on European literature, and, in 1835, a collection of sketches and travel pieces.

Longfellow's first book of prose, "Hyperion", as well as his first volume of verse, "Voices of the Night" appeared in 1839. His success as a poet led him to produce a second book, "Ballads and Other Poems", two years later. His early prose was concerned with historical and moral themes. His poetry dealt with nature, except "Poems on Slavery", which he wrote in 1842 to support the antislavery struggle the most important social movement of the day. Though Longfellow lived in days of unrest, when revolutions exploded in Europe and Civil War (1861-64) rent America, there was scarcely a repercussion of these events in his poetry.

In 1843, "The Spanish Student", averse play, was published and in 1846, the highly popular "The Belfry Bruges".

At the age of forty-seven, Lonfellow resigned his professorship at Harvard in order to devote himself entirely to writing. [66]

Longfellow crossed the Atlantic several limes to visit the European countries and universities, to improve his knowledge of European languages and literature. He spent half a year in Heilderberg absorbed in German romanticism, which influenced the American poet very much. Studyingthe European epos as a professor of literature, Lonfellow could see that his native country had no epic poetry similar to that of European nations. This inspired him to gather and carefully examine Indian folklore, then having as a model Karelian-Finnish epos "Kalevala", he wrote "The Song of Hiawatha", a skilful and beautiful imitation of epic poetry.

After 1861 Longfellow turned to translation and published his version of Dante's "The Divine Comedy" between 1865 and 1867, he continued to be published throughout the seventies, but "The Song of Hiawatha" remained his best and greatest poetical work. The best Russian translation of the poem is that of Ivan Bunin.

In the XIX century Longfellow was probably the most widely known American author outside his own country.