Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1823-1911Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 432K words
Chapters: 44

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Thomas Wentworth HigginsonAuthor: Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1823-1911,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 11, 2010

Editor's review

This is a critical biography of Longfellow by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a representative text in the tradition of early biographical criticism. Its value lies not in offering new material or new interpretations in the sense of contemporary scholarship, but in presenting how a contemporary cultured figure understood and evaluated Longfellow the man and his poetry, allowing readers to observe how nineteenth-century American literary taste took shape and spread. Higginson himself was closely involved with the abolitionist movement and American literary circles, and his narrative carries a distinct period perspective and personal judgment; it reads with both the air of historical source material and the warmth characteristic of the critical biography. The book's discussion of Longfellow's poetic achievement and public standing is well suited to comparative reading within the context of American literary history. As a public-domain ebook, this edition is easy to search and quote, making it suitable for course support, reference lookup, or background reading in literary history, rather than for readers seeking in-depth theoretical analysis. While reading, note how the biographer selects material and shapes the image of the poet; this is itself an entry point into understanding nineteenth-century biographical writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

American literature students who need to understand Longfellow's life and early evaluations of him
General readers interested in nineteenth-century American literary history
Those who need public-domain English biographical material for course preparation or reference lookup
Readers who enjoy the critical biography genre and are interested in how an author shapes the image of a poet

Not a good fit for

Professional researchers expecting cutting-edge contemporary scholarship or new historical material
Readers who only want Longfellow's poetry and do not care about biographical evaluation
Beginner readers with little patience for the style of nineteenth-century English critical biography

Reading tips

Read a few of Longfellow's representative poems first, then compare them with this book's evaluations to form your own judgment.
While reading, mark Higginson's period stance and value judgments, and note the choices made in biographical writing.
It can be read alongside general survey chapters on nineteenth-century American literary history to establish background coordinates.
When using it as a reference work, start with the table of contents and chapter summaries, then look up relevant passages as needed.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Was this book written by Longfellow himself?

No. The author of this book is Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911), and it is a critical biography of Longfellow, not Longfellow's own account or a poetry collection. While reading, the views in the book should be treated as the biographer's narrative and evaluation, not as the poet's own voice.

Do I need to read Longfellow's poetry before reading this book?

Not strictly, but reading a few representative poems first will make the experience more rewarding. The evaluations and selections in a critical biography are built on specific works; with no impression of the works at all, it is easy to remember only biographical anecdotes and hard to judge whether the author's evaluations are reasonable. It is advisable to browse at least a few short poems before starting this book.

Is this edition suitable for academic citation?

It is a public-domain electronic text and can be used for general coursework and reference lookup, but academic citation should verify the original book's edition information and page numbers. For formal papers, it is advisable to consult library holdings or authoritative editions, and note that this book was written quite early, so its views need to be positioned within the history of scholarship.

Does the book discuss Longfellow's poetic technique?

As an early critical biography, the book leans more toward biographical narrative and overall evaluation, and its analysis of poetic technique is not necessarily systematic or in-depth. If you are concerned with technical aspects such as meter and imagery, you will need to look elsewhere for introductory guides to his poetry or specialized studies; it is more appropriate to use this book as background and as material on reception history.

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About the author

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1823-1911 Author

Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911) was an American writer, abolitionist and soldier, with ten works held in this collection. His writing ranges widely across history, military life, literary biography, essays and fiction: Black Rebellion: Five Slave Revolts recounts slave uprisings, while Army Life in a Black Regiment draws on his own experience leading a Black regiment; both are closely tied to the history of American abolition and the Civil War. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a life of the poet, A Book of American Explorers and Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic turn to exploration history and Atlantic island legends, and Malbone: An Oldport Romance, Oldport Days and Women and the Alphabet: A Series of Essays offer, respectively, a novel of manners, seaside sketches and essays on women and education. His style is plain and clear, combining a historian's rigor with an essayist's ease. Because the available material is limited, a detailed account of his life cannot be given here.