Biography

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a national literary figure by the 1850s, and a world-famous personality by the time of his death in 1882." He was a traveler, a linguist, and a romantic who identified with the great traditions of European literature and thought."
"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807 in Portland, to Stephen and Zilpah Longfellow. "
"In 1822 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his older brother moved to Brunswick, Maine to start their sophomore year at Bowdoin College. They both graduated in 1825, in a class that included the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne."
In 1826 he took a 3 year trip through Europe. He married Mary Potter in 1829. She died from complications from a miscarriage in 1835. In 1836 he returned to Cambridge to teach, and his popularity as a poet continued to grow.
Some of the works he published include: "Poems on Slavery (1842), the anthology The Poets and Poetry of Europe (1845), Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847), the novel Kavanagh (1849), The Song of Hiawatha (1855), The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858), and Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863)."
In 1843 he married Frances Appleton, with whom he had six children.
Longfellow was friends with Charles Sumner, and Sumner mentions him in a letter to Francis from 1852.