31 May 2011

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Longfellow House was built in 1759 for John Vassall Jr, and used as General George Washington's headquarters during the siege of Boston (July 1775 to April 1776). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82) first rented two rooms here from Elizabeth Craigie when he was appointed Smith Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard. In 1843, on Longfellow's marriage to Fanny Appleton, his father-in-law Nathan Appleton bought Craigie House as a wedding present.

Visitors to the house were many, including Emerson, Hawthorne, Dickens, Trollope, and Julia Ward Howe.

Longfellow had the carriage house built in 1844. It is now used for public lectures and workshops, and education programs.

The entrance to  the garden, and also to the visitor center.

 
The Longfellow Memorial in Longfellow Park, which stretches from Brattle Street to Mount Auburn Street near the Charles River. Daniel Chester French completed this memorial in 1914: the bronze bust of Longfellow stands in the center, with six characters from his poems behind in relief:

Miles Standish from 'The Courtship of Miles Standish' (1858).

The angel Sandalphon from 'Birds of Passaage' (1858).

The blacksmith from 'The Village Blacksmith' (1841).

The Spanish student from The Spanish Student: A Play in Three Acts (1843).

Evangeline from Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847).

Hiawatha from The Song of Hiawatha (1855).

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