Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Works. Riverside Edition. 1886. 11 vols. Poetry, Vols. I–VI, IX–XI. Prose, Vols. VII, VIII. Standard Library Edition. 14 vols. (Includes content of Riverside Edition plus the life by Samuel Longfellow.) The best single volume is the Cambridge Edition. His work appeared in book form originally as follows: Miscellaneous Poems from the United States Literary Gazette (with others), 1826; Coplas de Manrique, 1833; Outre-Mer, Vol. I, 1833, Vol. II, 1834; Hyperion, 1839; Voices of the Night, 1839; Ballads and Other Poems, 1842; Poems on Slavery, 1842; The Spanish Student, 1843; Poems, 1845; The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems, 1846; Evangeline, 1847; Kavanagh, 1849; The Seaside and the Fireside, 1850; The Golden Legend, 1851; Hiawatha, 1855; Prose Works, 1857; The Courtship of Miles Standish, 1858; The New England Tragedy, 1860; Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1863; Flower-de-Luce, 1867; Dante’s Divina Commedia (translated), 1867; The New England Tragedies, 1868; The Divine Tragedy, 1871; Three Books of Song, 1872; Aftermath, 1873; The Masque of Pandora, 1875; Kéramos, 1878; Ultima Thule, 1880; In the Harbor, 1882; Michael Angelo, 1883.

Bibliography

A bibliography of first editions compiled by Luther S. Livingston. Privately printed 1908. See also Cambridge History of American Literature, Vol. II, pp. 425–436.

Biography and Criticism

The standard life is by Samuel Longfellow. 3 vols. These first appeared as The Life, 1886 (2 vols), and Final Memorials, 1887 (1 vol).

Austin, G. L. Longfellow: his Life, his Works, his Friendships. 1883.

Carpenter, G. R. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1901.

Davidson, Thomas. H. W. Longfellow. 1882.

Fields, Mrs. Annie. Authors and Friends. 1896.

Gannett, W. C. Studies in Longfellow, etc. 1898. (Riv. Lit. Ser., No. 12.)

Henley, W. E. Views and Reviews. 1890.

Higginson, T. W. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1902.

Howells, W. D. My Literary Friends and Acquaintances. 1900.

Howells, W. D. The Art of Longfellow. North American Review, March, 1907.

Kennedy, W. S. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1882.

Lawton, W. C. A Study of the New England Poets. 1898.

Lowell, J. R. A Fable for Critics, passim. 1848.

NORTON, C. E. H. W. Longfellow: a Sketch. 1907.

Perry, Bliss. Park Street Papers, The Centenary of Longfellow. 1908.

Poe, E. A. In Literati: Mr. Longfellow and Other Plagiarists; Mr. Longfellow, Mr. Willis, and the Drama; Longfellow’s Ballads.

Richardson, C. F. American Literature, Vol. II, chap. iii.

Robertson, E. S. Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1887.

Rossetti, W. M. Lives of Famous Poets. 1878.

Stedman, E. C. Poets of America. 1885.

Trent, W. P. Longfellow and Other Essays. 1910. Cambridge History of American Literature, Vol. II, Bk. II, chap. xii.

Underwood, F. H. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: a Biographical Sketch. 1882.

Winter, William. Old Friends. 1909.

TOPICS AND PROBLEMS

Read fifty pages at random from “Outre-Mer.” Compare them in tone and style with a passage of equal length from the essays on English life in “The Sketch Book” or from “Innocents Abroad” or from Howells’s “London Films.”

Apply the tests for popular fireside poetry referred to on pages 263 and 270 to the poems of Longfellow which you regard as general favorites.

Read from three to six of Longfellow’s ballads and compare them with a similar number by Tennyson or Dante Gabriel Rossetti or Whittier.

What was there in Longfellow’s education and profession to lead him to the contention in 1840 that there was no difference in the characters and modes of thought of Englishmen and Americans?

See Whitcomb’s “Chronological Outlines of American Literature” for the years 1845 to 1850 for the absence of any strikingly popular fiction in the period when “Evangeline” was published.

Read “Hiawatha” for the broad view of ethnic life which naturally escapes the attention of the child reader. Compare in general the measures of “Hiawatha” and of “Beowulf” (in the original or in metrical translation).

Note Longfellow’s characterizations of the Puritans in the poems mentioned on page 277 and compare these with Hawthorne’s.

Read “The Prelude,” “The Day is Done,” “Seaweed,” and “Birds of Passage” for Longfellow’s comments on the poet and the poetic art.