Remembering Henry Longfellow: Facts and quotes by the American poet

Paul Revere’s Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline are among American poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s most famous works.

American poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow breathed his last on March 24, 1882. Paul Revere’s Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline are among his most famous works.

Remembering Henry Longfellow: Facts and quotes by the poet of The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline and English translator of Dante’s Divine Comedy. (wikipedia.org)

This year, we observe his 138th death anniversary.

Longfellow studied at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he later joined as a professor. He then spent some time in Europe, before returning to teach at Harvard. His initial collection of poetries includes Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841).

B00A62YME2, 034267675X

Longfellow married twice. His first wife Mary Potter died in 1835 after suffering a miscarriage, while his second wife Frances Appleton passed away in 1861 after sustaining burns.

Saddened by Appleton’s death, Longfellow faced difficulty while writing poetry and decided to focus most of his time in translating works from foreign languages.

A pioneer of several European languages, Longfellow became the first American to translate Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy from Italian to English. While he received some criticism for allegedly imitating the European style of writing, he went to become one of the most famous poets ever.

Second of the eight children, Longfellow was named after his mother’s brother Henry Wadsworth, who was a navy lieutenant and died in the Battle of Tripoli. His father was a lawyer, while his maternal grandfather was a general in the American Revolutionary War.

On his death anniversary, here’s a look at some of the famous quotes and lines by Longfellow:

-- It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.

-- Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.

-- We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

-- Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden beads near a snake, a crow once managed to have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads.

-- The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter

At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase.