Longfellow's Accomplishments

The great and patriotic President Abraham Lincoln once said, "My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope." Many during Lincoln 's time shared this dream of a time like Longfellow 's. Longfellow 's idea of America was a superior land. It was a land where hopes and dreams could flourish and average people could become national heroes. This being said, Longfellow was also incredibly involved internationally. During his lifetime, he took frequent trips to Europe, especially England. Of course, he 'd always come back to great America refreshed and ready to turn out another chapter of his life and career.[endnoteRef:2] His career consisted of many patriotic poems that expressed his ideals and love

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At the adolescent age of thirteen, in 1820, Henry published his first poem entitled, "The Battle of Lovell 's Pond" in the "Portland Gazette" signing it simply "HENRY". It was a poem about a battle between colonists and Indians. It even appeared on the front page, which means many got to read the poem but, no one really knew who wrote it.[endnoteRef:7] In 1820, poetry was deemed a useless luxury to most of the middle-class or "practical-minded" citizens of America.[endnoteRef:8] This can be shown when Henry overheard his father talking about how terrible the poem was.[endnoteRef:9] By Henry publishing that poem, it jumpstarted his career as the first professional poet.[endnoteRef:10] Even when he was thirteen years old, his first poem centered around American history. [7: "] [8: United States. National Park Service. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." ] [9: Maine Historical Society. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." ] [10: United States. National Park Service. "Henry Wadsworth

He graduated in 1825[endnoteRef:13] with sixteen poems being published in "The US Literary Gazette".[endnoteRef:14] During college, Henry 's love for writing was ever-growing. His father listened and respected his son 's passion and even helped Henry attain a job as a professor at the college in modern European languages which at the time, was a relatively new academic field.[endnoteRef:15] [11: Maine Historical Society. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." ] [12: United States. National Park Service. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." ] [13: Maine Historical Society. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." ] [14: United States. National Park Service. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." ] [15: Maine Historical Society. "Henry Wadsworth