Longfellow's Legacy

Although I was an English Literature major, my memory fails me regularly when I try to recall who wrote what and when (it also fails me at the grocery store, but that’s a different story).  I am thankful for constant google access - it is better than my brain ever could be.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s delightful quote about the library stopped me in my tracks today and I googled him back into my short term memory...  

The love of learning,

the sequestered nooks,

And all the sweet serenity of books.

≈ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This lovely snippet is from the poem, Morituri Salutamus (loosely translated as ‘those who are about to die salute thee) that Longfellow wrote for his 50th college reunion at Bowdoin College in Maine.  I’m not sure how excited I’d be about that particular theme at my 50th reunion but those were more serious times.  I found it funny that in its original context Longfellow was actually complaining about the “discord in the harmonies of life” and the “marketplace” with its “eager love of gain”.  I’m right there with him, why enter the dreaded marketplace when there are so many lovely libraries to explore and  books to read .  His poem really has nothing to do with the library,  it is all about the fleeting nature of time and reminded his classmates that it was not too late for them to “dream or dare”.  
Longfellow was the most popular poet of his day, loved by the masses for his rhyming, lyrical poems.  His verse was translated around the world during his lifetime and by 1868 he was making  a salary of about $48,000 (the equivalent of an average teacher salary in 2011) and he is the first and only non-British poet to have a commemorative bust in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey.  Longfellow is now considered derivative and sentimental by critics, although I bet many people still enjoy reading “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” and he is still appreciated as a great American poet celebrity.
After his graduation, Longfellow was the librarian at Bowdoin College in addition to being a Professor.  This arrangement was only reached, however, because he felt that the original salary offered by the college was too small so they threw in the job of the librarian (a commitment of 1 hour per day) and upped his pay $100.  Sadly, he didn’t appear to have a burning passion for the library or his role in it.  
In 1837, Longfellow moved to Cambridge to become a professor at Harvard.  He rented rooms at ‘The Craigie House’, a historical Georgian home that was previously George Washington’s headquarters during the siege of Boston in 1775.  When he married Fanny Appleton in 1843, her father bought them the home as a wedding gift.  A pretty thoughtful gift. 

Posted by Daniel 

 

Longfellow’s house was a great hang out for writers and thinkers of the time - Hawthorne (a classmate from Bowdoin), Emerson and Dickens were a few of his pals names I recognized.  The house is now a National Historic Site, operated by the park service.  You can take a virtual tour of the house online and explore each of the rooms.  I was a little disappointed to find the the library was used as a party/gathering room but I did find some books in the study which is where Longfellow did all his writing, reading and napping in his later life.  His wife, Fanny often joined him in the study and wrote in her journal and some of his six children were also know to join them - it’s a wonder he got anything written!  Longfellow’s children kept the house and furtniture in excellent condition over the following decades, until it was donated for public use.  The house open to the public for tours and  is the home to some of Longfellow’s papers and letters, his collection is at the Houghton Library at Harvard.
Bowdoin College named their new library after Longfellow and Hawthorne, I imagine that was a no brainer,  and while it isn’t a particularly inspiring physical space (you can tell it was designed in 1965), it certainly must have some positive literary karma...I just hope students get to enjoy Longfellow’s library quote at every visit - that alone would make the trip worthwhile.