Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a Harvard scholar versed in several European languages . He was heavily influenced by Romanticism and made a name as a poet and novelist with works like Hyperion, Evangeline, Poems on Slavery and The Song of Hiawatha. He was also known for his translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy.
What was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow best known for?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, (born February 27, 1807, Portland, Massachusetts [now in Maine], U.S.—died March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts), the most popular American poet in the 19th century, known for such works as The Song of Hiawatha (1855) and “Paul Revere's Ride” (1863) .
Why is Longfellow so popular?
There are two reasons for the popularity and significance of Longfellow's poetry. First, he had the gift of easy rhyme . He wrote poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. ... Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because he was among the first of American writers to use native themes.
What is Longfellow most famous poem?
The best Longfellow poems
Longfellow (1807-82) is best-known for The Song of Hiawatha , and for growing a beard to hide the marks of a family tragedy, but he also wrote many other celebrated poems.
How did Henry Wadsworth Longfellow change America?
He reminded Americans of their roots and in the process became an American icon himself. Longfellow also influenced America's artistic and popular culture. His works inspired artists and composers, and his poems were read and recited not only in parlors and schoolrooms, but also at civic ceremonies.
What type of values did Longfellow endorse?
Optimism, self-belief, faith in God, hard work and patience are the values as such desired in Longfellow's poem A Psalm of life. The speaker has disapproved of pessimism, complacency and idleness. If you rather want a descriptive answer to it, click here: How does Longfellow think we should live life?
What type of poetry was Henry Longfellow known for?
Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and had success overseas. He has been criticized by some, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.
Who is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow often compared to?
Answer and Explanation: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is often compared to Washington Irving . Irving was a 19th-century American writer. While well known for his short stories, Irving was also a poet.
Was Longfellow a good poet?
He was the most revered poet of his day. It's worth trying to figure out why. On March 26, 1882, Ralph Waldo Emerson went to a funeral.
What is the meaning of Longfellow?
a writer of poems (the term is usually reserved for writers of good poetry)
Was Longfellow a Puritan?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a Christian. His parents were both raised as Puritans , but the Longfellow household in which Henry was raised was not...
What does Longfellow say about life?
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem.
How did Henry Wadsworth Longfellow contribute to nationalism?
Longfellow saw Nationalism as a driving force , particularly important during this period and set out in his poem, “Paul Revere's Ride” to arm the people with the necessary ideology to face the oncoming hardships. ... I love the story of Paul Revere, whether he rode or not” (Fischer 337).
How do the themes of A Psalm of Life and Auspex differ?
How do the themes of “A Psalm of Life” and “Auspex” differ? While “Psalm” argues that the soul continues after death, “Auspex” indicates that time destroys the heart's passions.
What is the message of A Psalm of Life?
“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth carries a message of hope and encouragement . It encourages people to live their lives to the fullest, using the short time we have here on Earth as a gift. The poem is a message to future generations to find work and action that gives them purpose and passion.
What did Longfellow believe?
Although known primarily as a poet and scholar, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was also an abolitionist who used his poetry, and his money, to further the cause of the anti-slavery movement in the mid-nineteenth century.
What did Longfellow teach at Harvard?
At Harvard, as the Smith Professor of Modern Languages , he soon earned a reputation as an earnest and well-liked teacher who didn't just walk the foreign walk, but talked the talk as well: He was eventually fluent in eight languages and a competent reader in eight others.
Where does the name Longfellow come from?
The surname Longfellow is derived from the Old English word lang, meaning long or tall , and the Old English word felagh, which meant partner or shareholder.
How did Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grow up?
Born on February 27, 1807, in Portland (while Maine was still a part of Massachusetts), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up in the thriving coastal city he remembered in “My Lost Youth” (1856) for its wharves and woodlands , the ships and sailors from distant lands who sparked his boyish imagination, and the historical ...
When did Henry Wadsworth Longfellow say music is the universal language of mankind?
Some attribute the phrase to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote in 1835 , “Music is the universal language of mankind,—poetry their universal pastime and delight.”* Longfellow was referenced ironically by George Bernard Shaw in an 1890 review: “Though music be a universal language, it is spoken with all sorts of ...
Why is Greenleaf Whittier important?
John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States . ... Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings, as well as his 1866 book Snow-Bound.
How does Longfellow exhort to lead a meaningful life?
According to the speaker in Longfellow's poem ‘A Psalm of Life' this life is ‘not an empty dream'. ... So it's important to make the most of this short life. We can set examples before others by achieving great height of success. Thus we can inspire downhearted people to follow our footprints and regain the hope.
What does Longfellow say we should do?
Longfellow says that we should look at the great men before us as an example to how we should leave a mark on history, because someone's always watching us, and one good decision or one bad mistake, can be imprinted on the sands of time, for eternity.
What are mournful numbers in Psalm of life?
Longfellow. Mournful means sad and sorrowful, and numbers means tunes or songs . The speaker here asks others not to sing sad and pessimistic songs about life's uselessness when he says “Tell me not in mournful numbers, / Life is but an empty dream”.
