Henry Wadsworth Longfellow example essay topic

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Henry Longfellow is not only a poet, he is one of Americas most world known poets for reasons other than poetry. His mother Zilpah Wadsworth Longfellow and his father Stephen Longfellow brought Henry Longfellow into this world on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine. Put into school at the early age of three, helped Henry to be one of the smartest boys in his school. At age six, a letter was sent home to his parents letting them know that Henry was an exceptional student in reading, spelling and also at adding and multiplying. Henry's dad had plans for him to follow in his foot steps and become a lawyer and this plan was starting to unfold, until one day at Bowdoin College where Henry was currently a noticeable senior, the college established a chair of modern languages.

The College asked Henry if he would like to become their first professor. In May of 1826, Henry took a break from his job as a professor and headed out for Europe so that he could go to more school and become a Scholar and Linguist. Henry returned to America in 1892 with plans to start a new career. At the age of 22, Henry launched into his career as a College Professor who had to write all of his own text because there wasn't any other text.

In the middle of all this confusion with his career, Henry found time to fall in love and get married to Mary Storer Potter an old schoolmate and a close friend. Once he was married Henry and his wife settled down in house hidden by some Elm trees. This is where he wrote translations from Old World literature and taught as a professor and was the librarian for Bowdoin. In 1834, Henry was appointed a professorship at Harvard. So with this new bit of news, Henry and his wife set out for Europe by way of preparation. This trip to Europe would not end in happiness.

In Rotterdam, Henry's wife died. With his wife being dead, Henry went alone to Cambridge for the new professorship. He lived alone in a room at the historic Craigie House. Nathan Appleton owned the house, and several years after Henry had moved in, he would marry Frances Appleton, daughter of Nathan Appleton who gave the Craigie House to Longfellow and his new wife. The two ended up having five children, two boys and three girls. In 1854, he resigned from Harvard and with his mind and heart set, he gave himself to the task of his own poetic writing.

In June of that year Longfellow would begin 'The Song of Hiawatha'. Next he would come up with the story about John Alden and Priscilla named 'The Courtship of Miles Standish' which was published in 1858. Twenty-five thousand copies were sold during the first week of its publication, and 10,000 copies were ordered to London the first it was published. Everything was perfect until 1861, when they happiness came to an end for Henry, his second wife would die. Nearly twenty years later and a few honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge later, and a couple hundred stories, songs and poems later, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died on March 24, 1882.