2. Background
Born: February 27, 1807 in Portland,
Maine
Son of Stephen and Zilpah
Longfellow
At the age of six, Henry Longfellow
showed a great propensity toward
writing
At age 19, he graduated from
Bowdoin College with classmate
Nathaniel Hawthorne
He traveled throughout Europe for
three years, preparing himself to for
his new career as a college professor
in modern languages
1831 Married Mary Storer Potter,
but later died during a miscarriage
3. Background
In 1836, he began teaching at Harvard
University
1843 he married Frances Appleton and had six
children together
His wife died tragically from being severely
burned after her dress caught on fire
Longfellow’s famous beard conceals his scars,
which he obtained when he attempted to save
his wife from the fire
He translated Dante’s Devine Comedy as
means of comfort
He died on March 24, 1882 from peritonitis
4. Mary Storer Potter,
Longfellow’s first wife
Fanny Appleton
Longfellow, with sons
Charles and Ernest
Frances Appleton,
Longfellow’s second
wife
5. Literary Period
Romanticism
A style of writing that came about in the late 18th
century.
It focuses on the natural world, and on abstract ideas of imagination, on
love, death, nature, and freedom
Romantic style values feelings and intuition over reasoning
The themes in most of Longfellow’s poems tend to use the Romantic
writing style through the actions of characters
6. Significant Works
Poetry:
Evangeline (1847)
The Seaside and Fireside (1849)
The Song of Hiawatha (1855)
The Courtship of Miles Standish
(1858)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
(1860)
Three Books of Song (1872)
The Masque of Pandora and Other
Poems (1875)
7. In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face — the face of one long dead—
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died; and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
8. There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
9. Analysis of Poem
This poem reflects the grief and agony of Longfellow as he remembers the tragic incident of his
wife’s death.
Longfellow was severely burned as he put out the flames but failed to save her life.
It is probably a testament to his will that her gentle face appears as he must have so often seen it
during their 19-year marriage.
Although the poet saw only a picture of the Colorado mountain with its cruciform snow-filled
crevices, he liked the image so well that he took it as emblematic of his circumstances.
“Displays a cross of snow upon its side” is personification
“And seasons, changeless since the day she died.” is personification
“There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.” this is imagery
10. Excerpt of A psalm of life by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
12. His Inspiration
“Longfellow’s sonnet “The Cross of Snow” was
inspired by two images familiar to Longfellow.
One was Fanny’s portrait by Samuel Worcester Rowse
(1859)
engraving of Jackson’s photograph of the “Mountain
of the Holy Cross” (1875). This engraving showed a
striking natural phenomenon in the Rocky Mountains;
snow- filled crevices on the side of a mountain in the
Rockies projected the image of a cross which could be
seen from many miles away.
13. Literary Criticism
During his lifetime, Longfellow was immensely popular and widely
admired.
He was the first American poet to gain a favorable international
reputation, and his poetry was praised abroad by such eminent
authors as Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo
14. Literary Criticism
“Longfellow gave poetry higher standing within American society
than it had enjoyed ever before
In an age that judged literature largely in moral terms as
expressive of an author's personal virtues, Longfellow became
everyman's kindly, sympathizing, gently encouraging friend.
15. Achievements
More than a million copies of his poetry had been sold.
Granted private audiences with Queen Victoria
Granted honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge
Became the first American to be honored a memorial in the Poets’
Corner of Westminster Abbey--a distinction reserved for the greatest
English poets
In America, a national holiday was declared to celebrate his seventy-
fifth birthday
From the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, nearly every
school-age child in the United States and most of Britain were
required to read some of his poetry.
16. Longfellow’s memorial in
the Poets’ Corner of
Westminster Abbey
Longfellow’s Birthplace:
Portland, Maine
The first Longfellow
stamp, issued in Portland on
February 16, 1940
Longfellow and Senator
Charles Sumner
17. Bibliography
Huff, Randall. "'The Cross of Snow'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts
On File, Inc., 2007.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0091&SingleRecord=True (accessed
April 12, 2012).
Jenson, Susan. "Classic Authors: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." Suite101 Popular Archive. 17 Aug. 1999. Web. 12
Apr. 2012. <http://archive.suite101.com/article.cfm/classic_literature/24284>.
"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." : The Poetry Foundation. 1999. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/henry-wadsworth-longfellow>.
Williams, Cecil B. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. New York: Twayne, 1964. Print.
18. BibliographyMaine Historical Society. Maine Memory Network. N.p., 2012. Web. 9 May
2012.
<http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/4121/>.
Famous People. thefamouspeople. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2012. <http:
www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/henry-wadsworth-longfellow-186.php>.
Gale, Robert L. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." The Victorian Web. N.p., 2004.
Web. 9 May 2012.
<http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/brock/51.html>.
19. Biblyography
LaRocco, Jeremiah. "Mount of the Holy
Cross." Wikipedia. N.p., 2012. Web. 9 May
2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_of_
the_Holy_Cross,_2009.jpg>.
Arvin, Newton. Longfellow: His Life and
Work. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
1963.
20. biblyography
•Merriman, C. D. “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-
Biography.
”The Literature Network. N.p., 2000. Web. 10
Apr. 2012.
<http://www.onlineliterature.com/henry_
longfellow/>.
Oakes, Elizabeth H. "Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth."
American Writers,
American Biographies. New York: Facts On File,
Inc., 2004. Bloom’s
Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp
ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin=
AW144&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 13,
2012).
21. biblyography
Arvin, Newton. Longfellow His Life and Work. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1962. Print.
"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." : The Poetry Foundation.
1999. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/henry-wadsworth-
longfellow>.
Bloom, Harold. The Best Poems Of The English Language,
From Chaucer Through Frost. NY: HarperCollins, 2004. Print
Gioia, Dana. "Longfellow." Poets.org. N.p., 1997. Web. 10
Apr. 2012.
<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/143>.
• Irmscher, Christoph. Longfellow Redux. University of Illinois,
2006
