Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poet

The over life-size white marble bust of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was unveiled in Poets' Corner Westminster Abbey on 1st March 1884, on a pillar near to the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Funds for the bust were raised by the Longfellow Memorial Committee, headed by Earl Granville. Dr W.C. Bennett, a well known poet of the time, was Hon. Secretary. They obtained permission in 1882 from the Dean of Westminster to erect it.

The supporters held speeches in the Jerusalem Chamber at the Abbey before going into the main Abbey for the unveiling ceremony, performed by the Sub-Dean (as the Dean was unwell).

It is by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock and the main inscription reads:

LONGFELLOW. This bust was placed amongst the memorials of the poets of England by the English admirers of an American poet. 1884

On the left and right sides of the plinth is inscribed:

Born at Portland, U.S.A. February 27th 1807. Died at Cambridge, U.S.A. March 24th 1882.

His Life

Longfellow's ancestor, William Longfellow, had emigrated to New England in 1676 from Yorkshire. His parents were Stephen, a lawyer, and Zilpah (Wadsworth). He was educated at Bowdoin College, where he later taught, with his brother Stephen. In 1831 he married Mary Potter but she died in 1835. His prose romance Hyperion was published in 1839.

He spent time in Europe and Heidelberg, and later was a professor at Harvard university. In 1843 he married Frances Appleton (died 1861) and they had six children - Charles, Ernest, Fanny, Alice, Edith and Anne.

He wrote essays for the North American Review, and his Evangeline... was a popular success. Ballads and other poems included 'The Village Blacksmith' and 'The Wreck of the Hesperus'. The Song of Hiawatha is one of his best known works, and he was second only to Lord Tennyson in popularity.

His grave is in Cambridge, Massachusetts.