Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-21

There was nothing of the pedant IN
him.. Yet the ancient and modern Ian.
guages were at his tongues end. one
might say, and both by reading and
travel he knew the world Of the past
and the present. An unaffected nat
ural simplicity was. III fact the pre-.
yailing note in Longfello life as In
his writings.
No Infant Prodigy.
Longfellow was no infant prodigy.
He wrote practically no poetry worth
publishing until he was past thirty
years Of age. He was thirty-two when
he wrote 'sThe Psalm Of Life" which
first brought him fame. He finished
'.Eyange feline at forty, that being his
first extended essay into poetic nara
tive. Most Of his ambitious work was
done after he passed the fortieth me-
ridian. Nearly all his verse was the
product of his mature life.
Until far into middle life the poet
was Professor Long fellow. For near
" twenty years he occupied the chair
OF modern languages at Harvard, and
for several years in his earlier man
hood he had held a similar chair at
Bowdoin. where in his nineteenth year
he was graduated. During his profess
orship days he made two trips to Eu-
rope for the study Of modern LAM
guages. Later he made two more trips
for the study Of modern conditions and
just to see the world and broaden his
experiences.
Professor Longfellow was not mere
" respected by the young collegians
whom he instructed in literature and
languages. They loved him. Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, one Of those
fortunate boys, tells in current mag
azine article how John Revere, grand
son Of the Paul Revere whose ride the
poet made forever famous by his stir
ring ballad, was once the leader Of a.
student revolt at Harvard. Several Of
the professors visited the rioters on
the campus and sought to interfere.
go home a&d go to bed, old Dozy
Prosy, was. the greeting which one
solemn professor received In addition
to being grabbed by Revere and others
and forcibly faced around toward his
home. Another professor had to run
the gantlet. Then Revere suddenly
exclaimed:
Boys; here's Professor Longfellow.
Wen hear him. He always treats us
4 like gentlemen"
4 The rebellion ended then and there.
Colonel Higginson says that LoHgfel-
low was the first Of the Harvard pro-
fessors to address the students with
| the title @Mr." He treated them as If
they belonged to his own circle Of pol
ished gentlemen, and the boys honored
him accordingly. Professor Longfel-
low was perhaps the most travelled and
cultured member Of the Harvard fac
ulty at the time His culture was uni
versal, not merely American.
A World Poet.
Even for that quality some of his
4 critics are wont to berate him. They
aver that he drew his inspiration from
Europe. Yet we have "Evangeline, q
story altogether American; we have
4 'sHiawatha'' and 1.-THE Courtship Of
.4G
may be said; we have numberless ex
amples Of lyric and dramatic or mar
rative verse inspired purely by Amer
lean incidents or institutions. Supple
mentary to these we have many beau
tiful pieces suggested by the poets
travels abroad and by his browsings il
foreign literatures and histories. Thus
! Longfellow really made himself wha
he aspired to be-a world poet. THAI
he was a world poet and not merely
""America's poet" as Queen Victoria
called him, needs no further proof thar
A the hundred or more TRANSACTIONS.
And as for originality, Shakespeare
borrowed practically all his plots
Shakespeare put originality into hi'
. method Of expression. Longfellow die
likewise. The student Of literature i.
4 able to identify passage Of blanl
verse as Shakespeare's, even though b,
4 may not have read 1t previously. Like
i wise the student Of literature can iden
4 tify a Longfellow poem. There is some
q thing m the manner of saying thu
thing which reveals the author. james
II AuSScil AIOWSll, wiz 1lfcu 55fNIy yClOSt
A to Longfellow In Cambridge, wrote
couplet which should put the quietul
upon critics who assume that nothin,
81 is original unless the idea is new. Sail
Il Lowell:
Though old the thought and oft ex
Il pressed.
'Tisf his at last who says It best.
Appealed to the Heart.
LongfelloW said many things bette
i than anybody else said them. He ma.
not have spoken to the highly intel
lectuaI a message of prophecy or in
depreciation such as was spoken b.
q Walt Whitman or by Emerson. Thes,
q men appealed to the soul and Longfel
low to the heart. They were meta
physical. Longfellow was emotional. I.
Very serene was this poets life. TO
4 forty-five years he lived in one house
the old Cragie place on Brattle street
In Cambridge, one Of those very nu
& merous houses In New England Awher.
George Washington slept." He hat
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