The Poets and Poetry of America

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

[Born, 1807.]

MR. LONGFELLOW was born in the city of Portland, in Maine, on the twenty-seventh of February, 1807. When fourteen years of age he entered Bowdoin College, where he was graduated in 1825. He soon after commenced the study of the law, but being appointed Professor of Modern Languages in the college in which he was educated, he in 1826 sailed for Europe to prepare himself for the duties of his office, and passed three years and a half visiting or residing in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland and England. When he returned he entered upon the labours of instruction, and in 1831 was married. The professorship of Modern Languages and Literatures in Harvard College was made vacant, in 1835, by the resignation of Mr. TICK NOR. Mr. LONGFELLOW, being elected his successor, resigned his place in Brunswick, and went a second time to Europe to make himself more thoroughly acquainted with the subjects of his studies in the northern nations. He passed the summer in Denmark and Sweden; the autumn and winter in Germany-losing in that period his wife, who died suddenly at Heidelberg-and the follow. ing spring and summer in the Tyrol and Switzerland. He returned to the United States in October, 1836, and immediately entered upon his duties at Cambridge, where he has resided ever since, except during a visit to Europe for the restoration of his health, in 1843.

the Lutheran church, and the most illustrious post of northern Europe. The genius of TEGNER had already been made known in this country by a learned and elaborate criticism, illustrated by translated passages of great beauty, from his "Frithiof's Saga," contributed by LONGFELLOW to the "North American Review," soon after he returned from his second visit to Europe. The "Children of the Lord's Supper" is little less celebrated than the author's great epic, and the English version is a singularly exact reproduction of it, in form and spirit. No translations from the continental languages into the English surpass those of LONGFELLOW, and it is questionable whether some of his versions from the Spanish, German and Swedish, have been equalled. The rendition of the "Children of the Lord's Supper" was among the most difficult tasks to be undertaken, as spondaic words, necessary in the construction of hexameters, and common in the Greek, Latin and Swedish, are so rare in the English language. "The Skeleton in Armour" is the longest and most unique of his original poems. The Copenhagen antiquaries attribute the erection of a round tower at Newport, in Rhode Island, to the Scandinavians of the twelfth century. A few years ago a skeleton in complete armour was exhumed in the vicinity of the tower. These facts are the groundwork of the story.

Soon after the appearance of the first edition of The earliest of LONGFELLOW's metrical compo- this work, I suggested to the late Mr. CAREY, the sitions were written for "The United States Lit-publisher, widely known for his taste in art and erary Gazette," printed in Boston, while he was an under-graduate; and from that period he has been known as a poet, and his effusions, improving as each year added to his scholarship and taste, have been extensively read and admired. During his subsequent residence in Brunswick he wrote several of the most elegant and judicious papers that have appeared in the North American Review;" made a translation of Coplas de Manrique; and published "Outre Mer, or a Pilgrimage beyond the Sea," a collection of agreeable tales and sketches, chiefly written during his first residence abroad. In 1839 appeared his "Hyperion," a romance, and in 1848 Kavanagh," his last work in prose.

literature, that a series of such volumes, embracing surveys and specimens of the poetry and prose of different countries, would be valuable and popular; and among the results of various conversations on the subject, was a request to Mr. LoNG

The first collection of his poems was published in 1839, under the title of " Voices of the Night." His Ballads and other Poems" followed in 1841; "The Spanish Student, a Play," in 1843; "Poems on Slavery," in 1844; "The Belfry of Bruges, and other Poems," in 1845; "Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie," in 1847; The Seaside and the Fireside," in 1849; and "The Golden Legend," in 1851. Complete editions of his poetical works appeared in 1845, 1848, and subsequent years.

One of his largest and most elaborate poems is the "Children of the Lord's Supper," translated from the Swedish of ESAIAS TEGNER, a venerable bishop of

FELLOW to prepare "The Poets and Poetry of Europe." He acceded, and in the summer of 1845 finished and gave to the press the most comprehensive, complete, and accurate review of the poetry of the continental nations that has ever appeared in any language.

Of all our poets LONGFELLOW best deserves the title of artist. He has studied the principles of verbal melody, and rendered himself master of the mysterious affinities which exist between sound and sense, word and thought, feeling and expression. This tact in the use of language is probably the chief cause of his success. There is an aptitude, a gracefulness, and vivid beauty, in many of his stanzas, which at once impress the memory and win the ear and heart. There is in the tone of his poetry little passion, but much quiet earnestness. It is not so much the power of the instrument, as the skill with which it is managed, that excites our sympathy. His acquaintance with foreign literature has been of great advantage, by rendering him familiar with all the delicate capacities of lan

guage, from the grand symphonic roll of Northern tongue to the "soft, bastard Latin" of the South. His ideas and metaphors are often very striking and poetical; but there is no affluence of imagery, or wonderful glow of emotion, such as take us captive in BYRON OF SHELLEY: the claim of LONGFELLOW consists rather in the wise and tasteful use of his materials than in their richness or originality. He has done much for the Art of Poetry in this country

by his example, and in this respect may claim the praise which all good critics of English Poetry have bestowed on GRAY and COLLINS. The spirit of LONGFELLOW's muse is altogether unexceptional le in a moral point of view. He illustrates the gentler themes of song, and pleads for justice, humanity, and particularly the beautiful, with a poet's deep conviction of their eternal claims upon the instinc tive recognition of the man.

NUREMBERG.

In the valley of the Pegnitz, where across broad meadow-lands

Rise the blue Franconian mountains, Nuremberg, the ancient, stands.

Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song,

Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them throng;

Memories of the Middle Ages, when the emperors, rough and bold,

Had their dwelling in thy castle, time-defying, centuries old;

And thy brave and thrifty burghers boasted, in their uncouth rhyme,

That their great imperial city stretch'd its hand through every clime.

In the court-yard of the castle, bound with many
an iron band,

Stands the mighty linden planted by Queen CUNI-
GUNDE's hand;

On the square the oriel window, where in old