Lecture 11. Poetry and prose of the 19th century.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882) is the most widely read of all the American poets and the one that has the closest hold upon the hearts of the American people.

Longfellow was twelve years old when Irving's “Sketch-Book” appeared; the young reader was immediately captivated by its charm. At thirteen, he began to write verse, some of which was printed in the newspapers. In 1822, Longfellow became a student at Bowdoin College, and was admitted to the Sophomore Class. Before the end of his college course, Longfellow had recognized his true vocation.

During 1833 and 1834 Longfellow began the publication of some travel sketches, which in 1835 appeared in book form under the title of “Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage beyond the Sea”.

For eighteen years, from 1836 to 1854, Longfellow retained his active connection with Harvard College. The poet's life is inseparably associated with the history of Harvard and of Cambridge. In the midst of a distinguished society, he became, as time went on, its most distinguished member.

In 1839, Longfellow published two volumes which commanded immediate recognition. The one, a prose romance “Hyperion” is more or less a record of the moods and thoughts associated with its author's sojourn in Germany and Switzerland, warmly colored by the sentiment of youth and by the imagination of a poet who is stirred by romantic regions and legend-haunted scenes. The other, a thin volume of verse, entitled “Voices of the Night”, contained a number of his earlier compositions, together with eight new poems of genuine worth. These were the impressive “Hymn to Night”, the “Psalm of Life”, now so time-worn and so hackneyed that we treat it slightingly instead of submitting our imagination to the stirring appeal of its verse “The Reaper and the Flowers”,” The Light of Stars”, “Footsteps of Angels”, “Flowers”, “The Beleaguered City”, and “Midnight Mass for the Dying Year”. Simple and melodious, these poems quickly found their way into the homes and hearts of the people. Two years later a volume of “Ballads and Other Poems” appeared; and to the songs in the earlier group were added the now familiar “Skeleton in Armor”, “The Wreck of the Hesperus”, “The Village Blacksmith”, “The Rainy Day”, “Maidenhood”, and “Excelsior” -- this last, like the “Psalm of Life”, a favorite mark for the arrow of the critic. It is worthwhile, in passing, to note how many of these compositions have held their place in popularity and justified the first impression of their merit.

Longfellow took little part in the political discussions of his day. He was neither abolitionist nor transcendentalist, nor did he employ his verse in the furtherance of any specific cause. He did, however, on his return voyage, after a six months' stay in Europe, in 1842, compose seven poems dealing with the subject of slavery; and these were published at the close of the year. They lack intensity of feeling and possess little artistic merit, but are interesting as the only utterance on this theme to which the poet gave public expression.

In 1843, occurred the poet's marriage to Miss Frances Appleton, whom he had first met in Switzerland, seven years before. In the character of Mary Ashburton, she had figured in the romance “Hyperion”. In this year of his marriage was published the first of Longfellow's dramas “The Spanish Student”.

The next ten years were richly productive. Two collections were edited by Longfellow in 1845, one of which “The Poets and Poetry of Europe”, contained numerous translations made by the poet. Then followed, in 1846, the volume entitled “The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems”; and in 1847, the first long narrative poem “Evangeline” (a beautiful idyll of the Acadian exiles, with its plaintive romance of Evangeline's weary, heart-breaking search for the lover so ruthlessly separated from his bride, was immediately accepted as the crown of the poet's work.). “Kavanagh, a Tale”, was completed in 1849, and a fresh volume of verse “The Seaside and the Fireside” appeared in 1850. Another dramatic work “The Golden Legend” was finished in 1851. In 1854 Longfellow began working upon “Hiawatha”. The work was completed and published in 1855.

Longfellow had chosen a peculiar metre for “Evangeline” – hexameter verse. It had not been deemed consistent with the principles of English versification, and had not been employed with marked success. Longfellow determined to use it here. The poet was invariably happy in his choice of metrical forms; the reader of his poems is inevitably struck with the appropriateness of the measure to the theme.

Longfellow had for some time been attracted to the American Indian as a subject, and finally hit upon a plan for weaving together a number of the Indian traditions in narrative form. The Finnish epic “Kalevala” suggested an appropriate measure and in other ways served as a model for the poem, which he wrote with intense enjoyment. As in the case of “Evangeline”, the form selected proved remarkably apt to the treatment of this primitive theme. The trochaic tetrameter, -- using classic terminology, -- and the employment of parallelism and repetition, gave an elemental effect to the narrative that was both appropriate and rhythmically pleasing. “Hiawatha” is the epic of the red man, and the romantic, the heroic phase of Indian nature has never been better presented. Considerable criticism greeted its appearance, and there were many charges of plagiarism; nevertheless, the poem was immensely popular, and is now generally regarded as the poet's most original and most satisfactory achievement.

Following “Hiawatha”, his next important work was the delightful Puritan pastoral “The Courtship of Miles Standish” -- a bit of refreshing human comedy drawn from the sober annals of Plymouth. The poem was published in 1858. Three years later, in 1861, the happiness and serenity of Longfellow's life were suddenly broken by the shocking accident which caused the death of his wife. Sitting in the library of their home, sealing some packages of their little daughter's curls, Mrs. Longfellow's dress caught fire. She died the following day. The deep grief of his loss the poet bore in silence. After his death, there was found in his portfolio the sonnet entitled “The Cross of Snow”, written in 1879, the single utterance of his grief in verse.

To occupy his mind and alleviate his sorrow, the poet began a translation of Dante. Upon this he worked at intervals for several years. “The Divine Comedy” was completed in 1867; it holds a place among the best versions of Dante's work in English. Meanwhile the first part of “Tales of a Wayside Inn” had appeared in 1863; in 1872 and 1873, the remaining parts were published.

Longfellow's most ambitious, but not most successful, dramatic work “Christus: a Mystery” (which includes “The Divine Tragedy”, “The Golden Legend”, and “The New England Tragedies”), was published, complete, in 1872; “The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems” in 1875; “Kéramos and Other Poems” in 1878; “Ultima Thule” in 1880, and “In the Harbor” in 1882. “Michael Angelo, a Fragment” did not appear until 1884. The most notable among these later compositions was the “Morituri Salutamus”.

The qualities which especially mark the poetry of Longfellow are simplicity of style, beautiful imagery, moral earnestness, and narrative power. He spoke out of the common experience of life, and it was this in large degree which gave him the comprehension and affection of the common people. Longfellow shared generously in the gift bestowed on all poets, the sense of beauty and the power of figurative expression. Not at all like the magical art of Poe, Longfellow's art, impassionate, quiet, restrained, often pensive, sometimes melancholy, -- never morbid, -- is equally distinctive and equally true. It is as a writer of narrative poems that Longfellow attains his chief distinction. No other American poet compares with him in this field. Not only the three long poems which deal with themes of national interest, but also the twenty-two tales of the “Wayside Inn” series and the numerous ballads like “The Skeleton in Armor”, “The Wreck of the Hesperus”, “King Witlaf's Drinking-Horn”, and “The Discoverer of the North Cape” must be taken in account. Not all are of equal merit; “The Tales of a Wayside Inn” attain a varying degree of success, but this body of narrative poems as a whole proves the poet to have been a master of the story-telling art.

As a lyric poet, Longfellow ranks with the best. Many of his poems are songs. We think at once of “The Rainy Day”, “The Bridge”, “The Day is Done”, “Curfew”, “Stars of the Summer Night”, “Resignation”, “Sandalphon”, “The Children”, “The Children's Hour”, and many more. With the sonnet, too, Longfellow was eminently successful; those addressed to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and Keats are among his best. The poetical dramas are inferior as a group to the lyric and narrative poems. In “The Spanish Student” and “The Golden Legend” his imagination is freer and stronger than in the other dramas, and the dramatic poem “Michael Angelo” shows the poet's creative power in its highest development.

Longfellow's intimate acquaintance with the literatures of Europe and the influence of professional study are shown in the large number of facile translations from Scandinavian, German, French, Italian, and Spanish poets. They are marked by insight, sympathy, and felicity of interpretation; and form no unimportant portion of his work. It is unfair and ill-considered to cite these productions as proof of the poet's lack of originality -- as is sometimes done.

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