Cross of Snow

April 15, 2020
A welcome new biography of the iconic 19th-century poet. For many Americans, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) is fondly associated with "Paul Revere's Ride," the "most memorized poem in American history." In this comprehensive, affectionate, and astute biography, the first in many years, Basbanes provides a valuable reassessment of the once-beloved poet who fell from grace in the literary establishment just years after his death. For Basbanes, Longfellow was "discreet, loyal, and principled to a fault." Drawing on previously unexplored primary source material, he focuses as much on the private man--especially the influential roles Longfellow's two beloved wives, Mary and Fanny, had on his work--as he does on the public one. Their horrific deaths affected him greatly. One of eight children, young Henry was a "model of probity and purpose," publishing his first poem at 13. Success at Bowdoin College--where lifelong friend Nathaniel Hawthorne was a fellow classmate--earned him a European fellowship to study foreign languages. The trip, Basbanes writes, was "fundamental" to everything he would become. Longfellow taught at Bowdoin but grew restless, yearning for the literary life. A position at Harvard included more language study abroad; ultimately, he was able to read 15 languages. By the age of 30, Longfellow had published numerous poems, essays, and translations. His first major work, Hyperion, received a favorable response but was trashed in print by Edgar Allan Poe. During the Civil War, Longfellow's poem "The Building of the Ship," writes Basbanes, "brought tears to the eyes of Abraham Lincoln." The Song of Hiawatha sold 4,000 copies upon publication, 50,000 in the first two years in America. He was also popular in Britain, "outselling Robert Browning and Tennyson on their own turf." His translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy "alone is a singular achievement, and his sonnets compare with the best in English." A revelatory exploration of Longfellow's life and art and how he became a "dominant force in American Letters." (76 photos)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 27, 2020
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was far more than the old-fashioned and “white-bearded Fireside Poet” of popular memory, writes cultural historian Basbanes (On Paper) in this illuminating biography. Basbanes follows Longfellow from his childhood in Portland, Maine, to his teenage travels in Europe and early career as a Bowdoin language and literature professor with an impressive facility for foreign languages. Yearning to write full time and create a “form of literary expression distinctive to his time and place,” he became one of the 19th century’s most successful authors. In addition to Longfellow’s poetry, such as the classroom staple “Paul Revere’s Ride,” Basbanes explores Longfellow’s friendship with powerful U.S. senator Charles Sumner and his involvement with Sumner’s signature cause of abolitionism, which led to a series of antislavery poems. The book also emphasizes Longfellow’s relationships with smart, intellectual women, as exemplified by his brilliant and cosmopolitan second wife, Fanny. The devastating deaths of both his wives—Mary, his first, from miscarriage, and Fanny in a horrific fire—lead to striking portraits of grief. Basbanes notes that Longfellow’s reputation, demolished by early-20th-century literary modernists, has only recently begun to recover. This volume is an excellent addition to that worthy cause and is a captivating tale of a “life lived well and lived in full.”

Starred review from June 1, 2020
How could a best-selling, culture-influencing, nineteenth-century American poet, novelist, and translator fall out of favor, his work becoming a subject for ridicule? Critically acclaimed Basbanes (On Paper, 2013) spent 12 years working on this thoughtful, investigative biography, drawing upon previously untapped personal diaries, journals, and letters, including those of Fanny Appleton, Longfellow's smart and talented second wife. Life experiences clearly guided Longfellow's creative work. For instance, years living and studying in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany inclined Longfellow toward a romantic vision, while European folk stories and classical literature were sources of inspiration. The tragic, early deaths of his wives fueled Longfellow's prolific writing since it was a way to deal with his profound grief. Although his work has been criticized for not demonstrating an American sensibility like that of Walt Whitman's, Longfellow himself saw his writing as more imitative than imaginative. While chronicling the fact that Longfellow's popularity in his lifetime didn't guarantee his work lasting literary importance, Basbanes' biography reminds us of Longfellow's substantial literary contributions: he was the first American translator of Dante's Divine Comedy, he helped popularize poetry in America, and he proved that people can sustain profitable, lifelong writing careers. Basbanes' fresh portrait should restore deserved respect for and interest in once-ubiquitous Longfellow.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

June 26, 2020

With this first major biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82) in 50 years, Basbanes (On Paper) has done the great American poet a great service. Once among the most celebrated writers in the world, a figure comparable to Dickens, Longfellow experienced a sudden fall from literary grace within a generation of his death, and his extraordinary body of work (ballads, sonnets, epics, stories, translations--including the first American translation of Dante) was dismissed as little more than sentimental juvenilia. In a style that feels less formal than most scholarly studies, Basbanes makes a major step toward righting that wrong, bringing Longfellow out of the literary shadows and developing a persuasive case for his place in the pantheon of American, if not world literature. Beyond the moving story of the poet's life, his two marriages (both of which ended tragically), his literary friendships (including an audience with Queen Victoria), we witness the poet's intellectual curiosity, his endurance, the variety of his passions, and the humility of his character. Haunting the volume, however, is Longfellow's quickly dismantled reputation, an issue Basbanes raises early on but never really grapples with--ignoring how the ascent of Walt Whitman altered the literary landscape, leaving Longfellow's artistry and sentiment seeming somehow dated. VERDICT Essential for biography and literary collections; a sheer joy to read for its portrayal of the amazing life of the first "poet of the people." [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/19.]---Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Acad., Houston

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.