Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth b. February 27, 1807; Portland, Maine d. March 24, 1882; Cambridge, Massachusetts
Arguably the most acclaimed American poet of his era, remembered chiefly because of his poems such as Evangeline: A Tale of Arcadie (1847), The Song of Hiawatha (1855), and Paul Revere’s Ride (1863).
Longfellow was among the most influential transmitters of German culture to America in the nineteenth century. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825, he made athree-year trip to Europe to prepare himself for the professorship of modern languages that he had been offered at his alma mater. After spending most of his time in France, Spain, and Italy, he eventually studied in Gottingen for three months, largely upon the recommendation of George Ticknor. During his brief stay in Germany he did not acquire the fluency in German that he later gained at the University of Heidelberg (1835—1836), where he prepared himself to become Ticknor’s successor at Harvard. While in Heidelberg, Longfellow began an intensive study of German literature, beginning with the Middle Ages, but focusing upon the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He was immediately attracted to the lyrical quality of German romantic literature, especially the works of Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg), Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Uhland, and Jean Paul Richter. Above all, he immersed himself in the study of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who ultimately was to become, along with Dante, one of the two focal points of Longfellow’s intellectual life. Upon his return to America, he began his eighteen- year teaching career at Harvard, where he taught German, as well as the Romance languages, and lectured on European and, particularly, German literature. In his Harvard lectures, as well as in his writing, he was one of the leading contributors to the growing popularity of Goethe in America. Many of his shorter poems reflect German romanticism, while German themes are clearly present in a number of his longer works, especially Voices of the Night (1838), The Golden Legend (1851), and above all, in his novel Hyperion, A Romance (1839), in which he conveyed the spirit of romantic poetry and devoted an entire chapter to Goethe.
Longfellow also introduced the broader reading public to German literature through his two anthologies, Poets and Poetry of Europe (1841, 1871), which included his own translations of two of Goethe’s poems, Wanderers Nachtlied I & II (Wanderer’s Night Song I & II, 1780).The increasing appreciation of Goethe in America, and especially in New England, to which Longfellow greatly contributed, reflected his own evolving enthusiasm for the German poet. While at Heidelberg he began to overcome prevailing American puritanical criticisms of Goethe, especially those of immorality and sensuality. At the beginning of his studies he preferred Friedrich Schiller to Goethe, but he became increasingly moved by the language and sentiment of Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774), even though he did not approve of Werther’s eventual suicide. At the same time he immersed himself in a number of other works of Goethe, above all Faust (1808, 1832), a work that was later to become a focal point of his academic lectures. At Cambridge he had to counter the negative image created by Charles Follen, who had censured the German poet for his aloofness from politics and his perceived commitment to the old European order. In his Harvard lectures Longfellow denied that Goethe’s works were immoral, presented the poet as the epitome of calm and dignity, and asserted that he had no rival in Germany. In his early novel Hyperion, Longfellow showed much more caution. Paul Flemming, the protagonist, presented the usual American puritanical views of Goethe, while Flemming’s counterpoint, the Baron, praised the poet, often with the same phrases Longfellow used in front of his students at Harvard. While neither side appeared to
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is considered the most influential transmitter of German culture to America in the nineteenth century.
(Courtesy of James Smith Noel Collection at Louisiana State University, Shreveport.)win the debate, it is significant that its conclusion was followed by Flemming’s purchase of a statuette of Goethe, similar to the one that is still observed today in Longfellow’s study in Cambridge.
German authors and themes influenced many of Longfellow’s works in diverse ways. His Voices of the Night, written in the aftermath of the death of his wife and the later disappointment of unrequited love, reflects the mysticism of the German romantic writer Novalis. Longfellow’s The Golden Legend is a creative amalgamation of Hartmann von Aue’s medieval work Der Arme Heinrich (Poor Henry, ca. 1190), with Goethe’s Faust. And the basic structure of Hyperion, cited above, is undoubtedly Longfellow’s attempt to write an En- twicklungsroman (Novel of Development), influenced by Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprentice Years, 1795) and Wilhelm Meisters Wander- jahre (William Meister’s Travels, 1829). Longfellow’s Ballads and Other Poems (1841) were influenced by a number of German poets, particularly Ludwig Uhland (1787—1862), whom he greatly admired. Moreover, while visiting Germany in the summer of 1842, Longfellow developed a friendship with Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876), a poet passionately involved in the struggle for German freedom and a united Germany. Apparently Freiligrath inspired Longfellow to write his Poems on Slavery, published later that year.
John T Walker
See also American Students at German Universities; Follen, Charles; Gottingen, University of; Ticknor, George
References and Further Reading
Hatfield, James Taft. New Light on Longfellow: With Special Reference to his Relations to Germany. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1933.
Long, Orie. Literary Pioneers: Early American Explorers of European Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1935.
Pochmann, Henry A. German Culture in America: Philosophical and Literary Influences, 1600-1900. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978.