Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809-1882)

Resources about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. Maine Historical Society. “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” 2000. 16 June 2008. > <http://www.hwlongfellow.org/life_overview.shtml>. This website gives a link for the biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which is broken down into age levels of his live making it easy to find information. It also gives links to several of his poems, information on his homes and links to other resources. His poems are well understood and have a song type style. Longfellow was a college professor who taught his students the new concept of Romanism. He was even a professor at Harvard which is very impressive. Longfellow married and had 6 children. This website is a huge source of information about Longfellow and which gave me more information to work with about the romantic time period and how the writings of this time period had evolved. This website is hosted by the Maine Historical Society making the information accurate. Also on the website is a bibliography page listing all the sources sited on the website.

2. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography: Colonization to the American Renaissance, 1640-1865. Gale Research, 1988.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/servlet/BioRC
This source is a biographical essay that discusses Longfellow's life and literature. It discusses his popularity and the changes it faced over time and he quotesa few of Longfellow's texts. This source contains a lot of valuable information about LOngfellow and I find it credible not only for its publication, but the author cites many sources and even provides a list for further reading.

3. Merriman, C.D. “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- Biography and works”. The literature network. 2007. < http://www.online-literature.com/henry_longfellow/>

This website offers background information as well as selected texts by Romantic author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Merriman opens the article with an infamous fictional epic poem, “Song of Hiawatha” followed by an analysis. She explains how this poem is a tribute to the North American Indians. He was sympathetic to the Indians and their way of life and he attempted to blend facts with legends to create a romantic tale. He also draws on the legend of Paul Revere in his published work, “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”. Merriman also includes an in depth biography of Longfellow, discussing his early childhood and his entrance into the literary world. This website was helpful in understanding not only Longfellow, but a few of his infamous works as well. At the end, Merriman offers a list of other works by Longfellow she feels should be looked at.

4. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. <http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/servlet/BioRC>
This site features professional biographies for students. The biography on Longfellow names him as one of the most important American writers of the nineteenth century. He has an elaborate style, which may reflect his residencies in Europe. However, critics also blame Longfellow as a “preachy,” flaunting, or intellectual poet rather than a passionate one. These claims made his fame even more unique, since he launched his career during the Romantic movement. His European flare continued to make him unique among his American contemporaries, but his health problems are said to have excited his mind without any connection to outside stimulus or emotion. Longfellow is quoted to have said that even he was baffled by how his poetic inspiration worked. Nevertheless, he was born of a notable, Puritan family, began writing at an early age, and worked as a professor most his life. He passed through many fads during his seventy years of writing. One of these “fads” was the abolitionist movement. Poems on Slavery was published in 1842. They show a more intellectual critique of slavery, as opposed to the normal method of stirring sympathetic emotion. Although a few of his slave poems were critically acclaimed, he moved from abolition poetry as his life turned busy and unfortunate. This is a credible article because it is linked to the MCC library database.