Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a notable poet from the nineteenth century ("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"). He was most known for his unthemed poems, that many people were able to understand (Rabe). The American Renaissance was driven by people like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who displayed such ideas through his childhood, accomplishments, career and legacy. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine. He was raised on the corner of Hancock and Fore streets in a nine family home. At the age of three, his parents enrolled him in a “dame school”until he was enrolled in the Portland Academy at age six. When he was fourteen years old, he enrolled in Bowdoin College in 1822 ("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"). After college, Henry and his wife traveled Europe before he accepted his job at Harvard. However, she died right after she suffered a miscarriage in Germany. While he lost his first wife to a miscarriage, he married his second wife in 1843 and fathered six children ("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" 2016). Henry eventually settled at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After his passing in 1882, the Longfellow house was two-thirds replicated in Minnesota and was once the centerpiece of a zoo. ("Henry Wadsworth …show more content…
He wrote his first poem, ‘“Portland Gazette”, in 1820 ("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"). While most of his poems were without theme, some common types were myths, history, and landscapes ("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"). He identified his work with European traditions but still managed to tie them into American life and history. His style of writing influenced America’s artistic and popular culture ("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" 2017). Many people agreed that he had the gift of easy rhyme; everything flowed from him with natural grace and melody. He used this to appeal to reach all types of people, which allowed for his poems to be easily understood