Eagle Feathers #159 – Longfellow

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, on February 27, 1807, when Maine was still part of Massachusetts. He was a favorite son of the city and its residents still applaud anything Longfellow. He held a Chair at Harvard University and received degrees from England’s University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.

A bust of Longfellow is in Westminster Abbey, and a statue of him rests in Washington, D.C. He was known as one of the world’s most beloved poets on both sides of the Atlantic, receiving and responding to over twenty thousand letters of acclamation. Although a quiet man, he was the Beatles of his time in popularity.

For over 45 years, he raised his family in his home near Harvard Square in Cambridge. The impressive mansion had once been the home of English Tory, John Vassall, until General George Washington made it his headquarters during the 1775-1776 siege of Boston. After many owners, Longfellow purchased the home from the widow of Andrew Craigie, the first Apothecary General of the United States, who also attended to the wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Longfellow loved to take long walks and one of his favorite treks was from Craigie House, or “Craigie Castle” as he preferred to call it, to Somerville. He drew inspiration from Somerville’s revolutionary history that included the Old Powder House, Prospect, Winter and Spring Hills and the Isaac Royall House near Tufts University. Here, much enthusiasm was drawn for his popular poems such as Paul Revere’s Ride, The Courtship of Miles Standish and Evangeline. He was a brilliant scholar who was fluent in several languages. He was the first to translate Dante’s Divine Comedy and gave courses on the subject at Harvard. Charles Dickens and President Abraham Lincoln were among his many admirers.

Longfellow’s cousin, surveyor Alexander Wadsworth, was best known for his work on the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, which was the first rural cemetery in America. He also plotted out a large section of Somerville’s Spring Hill. Craigie Street honors Craigie House, Longfellow’s home. Dante Terrace, which is the home of the old Dante Club, also reminds us of Longfellow and his work.

Today a five-year $300 million-dollar reconstruction of the beautiful 110-year old Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River is complete. We continue to give laurels to one of New England’s most popular poets.