The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-03-25

He returned TO America in 1886 and entered
upon the Harvard Professorship, which he held
for seventeen years, during which not only his
official but his literary labors We're remarkably
uninterrupted and fruitful. In 1912 Mr.. Long
fellow again went abroad and passed the sum-
mer at Boppard, on the Rhine. On his return
he continued his professional labors with his
accustomed acceptablity, until he resigned the
Professorship in 1854, and was succeeded by
James Russell Lowell.
Many of Mr. Longfellow's best and most
popular works were published during the time
that he was a Professor at Harvard College.
Hyperion came out in 1889 and more than re-
deemed the promise of Outre-Mer 1t is aprose
romance. but with much poetry in it, and has
remained a fayorite The Voices of the Night
was published the same year, and it made him
famous as poet some of the contents taking
a firm and universal hold of the general mind.
Two years later appeared Ballads and other
Poems, which was followed in 1912 by Poems
on Slavery. In 1S43 The Spanish Student was
published; In 1S45 The Poets and Poetry of
Europe; and the next year, The Belfry of
Bruges and other Poems. Evangeline, which
some critics consider the best poem, appeared
in 1847. Whether the best of his poems or not
it was very popular, and its popularity has IN
dergone no abatement. Hans Christian An
dersen, the Danish poet, once said that he had
never seen more beautiful descriptions of seem
cry, or read more beautiful poem than evan
geline." His Kava1agh, a novel, followed in
1S49, and was in turn followed in 1850, by Sea-
side and Fireside, after which came The Gold
On Legend in 1851, and The Song of Hiawatha,
in 1856. This aboriginal poem called forth
some sharp criticism, but the critics and the
public were not of one mind then, any more
than they had been Oh some similar occasions,
for the work had prodigious run. The Court
ship of Miles Standish was published in 1858,
and met with flattering reception. The Way
side Inn came out in 1868; Flower de Luce in
1866; in 1867-70 mastery translation of
Dante, which was received with the greatest
favor by the scholarly world; in 1871 The Di-
vine Tragedy; in 1872 Three Books of Song;
in 1874 The Hanging of the Crane; and in 1875
Morituri Salutamus, poem read at the fiftieth
anniversary of his class at Bowdoin College.
He has continued to publish in the Atlantsc
Monthly and in other periodicals poems marked
by some of the choicest touches of his
genius. His latest volumes are Christus,
which comprises in one fine trilogy the Divine
Tragedy the Golden Legend and the New
England Tragedies; Aftermath, The Masque
of Pandora, Keramos and Other Poems, and
Ultima Thule, the last four being slender
volumes of short poems collected from the
magazines to which they were contributed,
and the latest of the series bearing in its title
melancholy prophecy of finality, which is
now fulfilled. His poem, ''Hermes Trismegs-
tus'' was published in the February Century
and a poem from his pen is among the an
nouncements for the May number of the At
literary labor to which he put his hand. The
series of Poems of Places which he edited
comprised ttirty-one volumes of the Little
Classic size, filled with choice poems having
local associations Or illusions, and grouped
under the countries to which they refer. The
supeibly illustrated and complete edition OF
his poems recently published, and the edition
de luxe of Evangeline, published last autumn
in England, attest the popularity of his
writings on both sides of the sea-a popularity
+lA III. 4..o.l E.
lavish upon them the richest resources of the
book-making art and the highest skill of artis-
tic decoration, knowing that the public will
give quick and sure response to their enter
prise Among Englishmen, no other Ameri-
can poet holds the place which has been &C
corded to Mr.. Longfellow, and no living Eng
lish poet except the Laureate has anything
like the hold upon the regard of the English
people that Mr.. Longfellow has enjoyed. Our
| limits, of course, would preclude any adequate
| characterization of these admirable works,
| which have largely constituted the glery OF
| American literature, which have been trans
| lated into most modern languages, and which
are the familiar property of cultivated men
| wherever at least the English tongue is known.
| SaySsOne who is competent to speak on the
point: "You must look to Shakespeare for a
| larger stock of the currency of thought than
Longfellow' for he is quoted in Westminster
| Palace, in the British Parliament, and in all
| the pulpits of England. 1t is because he
humanizes whatever he touches that his Tyre
has nothing alien to any soil. l have heard
him quoted by anArmemian monk with cowl
and sung by a camp-meeting on the hills OF
New Hampshire" Although we can under
| take no review of any of Mr.. Longfellow'
works, it will doubtless be interesting to all to
know the circumstances under which some Of
| his most popular poems were composed. We
| quote again, therefore, from the above author
| ity. Mr.. James T. Fields, as follows:
Gas happen to know of the birth of many
of Longfellow's poems, let me divulge to you
few Of their secrets. The Psalm of Life
came into existence on bright summer morn.
ing in July, 1888, in Cambridge, as the poe,
sat between two windows at small table,
in the corner of his chamber 1t was voice
| from his inmost heart, and he kept it unpub-
lished long time; itexpressed his own feel
ings at that time, when recovering from deep
affection, and he hid it in his own heart fol
many months. The poem OF the Reaper
Death came without effort, cry stallized into
his mind. The Light of the Stars was compos
ed on serene and beautiful summer evening
exactly suggestive of the poem. The Wreck
of the Hesperus was written the Knight after a
violent storm had occurred, and as the poet sal
smoking his pipe the Hesperus came sailing in
to his mind; he went to bed, but could not
sleep, and rose and wrote the celebrated verses
It hardly caused him an effort, but flowed Oh
without let or hindrance. On summer after
noon in 1919, as he was riding on the beach
Deep before him, and would not be laid. One
of the best known of all Longfellow's shorter
poems is Excelsior That one word happen.
ed to catch his eye, one autumn evening in
1871. on a torn piece OF newspaper, and
straightway his Imagination took fire at it.
Taking up piece of paper. which happened
to be the back of a letter received that day
from Charles Sumner, he crowded it with
verses. AS first written down, Excelsior diff
fers from the perfected and published aversion.
IL -
thor The story of Evangeline' was first sug-
gested to Hawthorne by friend who wished
him to found romance on it. Hawthorne did
not quite coincide with the idea, and he hand
ed it over to Longfellow, who saw in it all the
elements of deep and tender idyll."
the circulation of Mr.. Lcngfellow's writings
has been numbered by millions. Twenty-Five
years ago in 1857, the total sales sof his works
in this country had reached 325 300 copies, and
eighteen different English publishers were sup
plying the English market with rival editions.
The last twenty-five years have been fruitful
years, for the most part, and new volumes have
been welcomed by an always eager public
while his earlier writings have kept their place
in the popular regard. TRANSACTIONS of his writ
ings have also been made in German, Swedish
and other European tongues, and there is nc
living poet writing in the English tongue
whose fame may be so accurately described as
worldwide as his.
In the latter part OF May, 1865. Professor
Longfellow revisited Europe, where he was re-
ceived with marked honors, which naturally
reached their climax in England, where it was
said by the Westminster Review that not one
of his English contemporaries had had wider
or longer supremacy. Among the numerous
festive occasions that were made in his honor
was one at which Mr.. Gladstone was present
Although it had been decided that no speeches
should be delivered Mr.. Gladstone was COMPEL
ed to respond to the memorable demands of the
company, saying, amongsother graceful things,
that, latter all, it was impossible to sit at the
social board with a man of Mr.. Longfellow's
worldwide fame without offering him some
tribute of their admiration. Let them there
fore, simply but cordially assure him that they
were conscious of the honor which they did
themselves in receiving this great poet among
them" The University of Cambridge confer
red upon him the degree of LID. An Eng
glish reporter thus describes him as he then APP
peared, arrayed in the scarlet robes of an AGA
demics dignitary: "The face was one which, /
think, would have caught the spectator s
glance, even if his attention had not been call
ed to it by the cheers which greeted Longfel-
lows appearance in the robes Of anLL.D. Long
white, siken hair, and beard of patriarchal
length and whiteness, enclosed a young, fresh
colored countenance with fne-cut features and
deep.sunken eyes, oyershadowed by massive
black eyebrows Looking at him, you had the
feeling that the white head of hair and beard
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