BIRTH OF A POET

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW was born on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine. He was a prolific  poet, who became the most popular American poet of his time. 

Longfellow was a precocious student, who started his schooling at the

age of three. His love for reading and learning was encouraged and nurtured by his mother. As time went on, he became obsessed with pursuing a career in literature. Ten years later, in 1820, he wrote and published his first poem.

 Longfellow  enrolled in Bowdoin College in 1822 , and in 1825, graduated with honors .  To wit, he finished fourth in his class, gave the student commencement address, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was offered a position as  professor of modern languages. He was all of eighteen years old.

From 1826 -1829, Longfellow traveled throughout Europe where he learned to speak, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Back in the states he assumed the professorship previously offered him  by his alma mater, where he taught as well as translated textbooks in the languages he learned while overseas.

In 1834, he was offered and accepted the position of the Smith Professorship of Modern Languages at Harvard College, with the stipulation to spend a year or so overseas, where he studied Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, and Icelandic. He returned to America in 1836, he took up his professorship, and three years later he was inspired to write poetry based on his life experiences. He was also inspired by the likes of fellow authors, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving, whom he met and admired. Once this inspiration set in, Longfellow eventually penned over 300 poems, one of which was the classic, "Paul Revere's Ride," set during the time of the American revolution.

His first poetry collection was published  in 1839, another volume followed in 1841.

Longfellow died in 1882.

To read his impressive bio Google-search his name