Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine (which at the time was part of Massachusetts). He studied modern languages in Europe and then taught them at Bowdoin College. In November 1835, Longfellow’s wife died during a miscarriage. His early poetry, such as “A Psalm of Life,” showed people overcoming hardships, which resonated greatly with the struggling young nation of America.

Longfellow remarried and had six children. With the newfound confidence his marriage gave him, he published Evangeline, a book-length poem about two lovers being parted but finding each other years later when the man is dying. Having moved on to teaching at Harvard, he decided to quit teaching to become a full-time writer in 1854. He published Hiawatha about Native American life, and The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems, two highly successful books. As the country moved toward an inevitable civil war, he wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride” as a call to courage.

Longfellow’s second wife died when her dress caught fire while sealing an envelope with wax. The grief caused a two-year hiatus in his writing. However, he went on to write many more books of poetry, and his fame continued to grow. In fact, he was the most famous American of the time, admired by notable men such as Abraham Lincoln and Charles Dickens. His seventy-fifth birthday in 1882 was celebrated across the country, but his health declined, and he died the very next month on March 24.