Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

by Thomas Wentworth Higginson

COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published October, 1902

Of this edition Three Hundred Copies have been printed and bound entirely uncut with paper label

PREFACE

A life of Longfellow has been from the beginning included in the plan of the “American Men of Letters” series, but it has been delayed through a variety of causes. Like all memoirs of this poet, it must rest partly on the material amply furnished by the “Life” so admirably prepared by his brother sixteen years ago, yet it may be well to explain that the present volume will be found marked by three especial characteristics of its own. First, much additional material is here drawn from the manuscript correspondence of the first Mrs. Longfellow, received from her family and bearing upon the poet’s early married years and first visit to Europe, during what was undoubtedly the formative period of his life. Secondly, there is a good deal of material obtained from the manuscript volumes known as the “Harvard College Papers” and preserved at the University Library, elucidating the academical side of iv Longfellow’s life. Thirdly, there is a series of extracts from his earlier writings, dating from college days and not hitherto brought together, but showing the origin and growth of his lifelong desire to employ American material and to help the creation of a native literature; the desire which had its final fulfilment in “Evangeline” and “Hiawatha.” These three sources will be found, if the author is not mistaken, to have afforded distinct contributions to our previous knowledge as to Longfellow’s character and work.

T. W. H.

CONTENTS

Chap.		Page
I.	[Longfellow as a Classic]	1
II.	[Birth, Childhood, and Youth]	11
III.	[First Flights in Authorship]	21
IV.	[Literature as a Pursuit]	37
V.	[First Visit to Europe]	45
VI.	[Marriage and Life at Brunswick]	59
VII.	[The Corner Stone laid]	67
VIII.	[Appointment at Harvard and Second Visit to Europe]	81
IX.	[Illness and Death of Mrs. Longfellow]	107
X.	[Craigie House]	116
XI.	[Hyperion and the Reaction from It]	124
XII.	[Voices of the Night]	137
XIII.	[Third Visit to Europe]	149
XIV.	[Anti-Slavery Poems and Second Marriage]	163
XV.	[Academic Life in Cambridge]	176
XVI.	[Literary Life in Cambridge]	188
XVII.	[Resignation of Professorship—to Death of Mrs. Longfellow]	202
XVIII.	[Birds of Passage]	213
XIX.	[Last Trip to Europe]	219
XX.	[Dante]	225
vi XXI.	[The Loftier Strain: Christus]	236
XXII.	[Westminster Abbey]	248
XXIII.	[Longfellow as a Poet]	258
XXIV.	[Longfellow as a Man]	278
	[Appendix]	297

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

CHAPTER I
LONGFELLOW AS A CLASSIC