When and where was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow born?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on the 27th of February 1807 in Portland, Maine. He grew up in a house that now stands as a historic site called the Wadsworth-Longfellow House.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on the 27th of February 1807 in Portland, Maine. He grew up in a house that now stands as a historic site called the Wadsworth-Longfellow House.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow attended a dame school at age three and enrolled at the private Portland Academy by age six. He became fluent in Latin during those early years and read Robinson Crusoe and Don Quixote with his mother's encouragement.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow traveled to Europe after graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825 to study French Spanish and Italian. His tour lasted three years and cost his father $2,604.24 while he learned five languages mostly without formal instruction.
Mary Storer Potter died on the 29th of November 1835 after suffering a miscarriage and several weeks of illness. Her death weighed heavily on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote about her loss in poems such as Footsteps of Angels and Mezzo Cammin.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received a commemorative bust in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London in 1884. He remains the only American poet represented with a bust there.