[
1]
Chapter 1: Longfellow as a classic
The death of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made the first breach in that well-known group of poets which adorned
Boston and its vicinity so long.
The first to go was also the most widely famous.
Emerson reached greater depths of thought;
Whittier touched the problems of the nation's life more deeply;
Holmes came personally more before the public;
Lowell was more brilliant and varied; but, taking the English-speaking world at large, it was
Longfellow whose fame overshadowed all the others; he was also better known and more translated upon the continent of
Europe than all the rest put together, and, indeed, than any other contemporary poet of the English-speaking race, at least if bibliographies afford any test.
Add to this that his place of residence was so accessible and so historic, his