Henry Longfellow
Born into a prominent family on February 27, 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up in the bustling town of Portland, Maine. His parents Stephen and Zilpah Longfellow provided a strong, but refined, Puritan background, while encouraging Henry to excel in academics (Wagenknecht 2). Longfellow's education began early, when he was enrolled in an "old-fashioned 'dame' school" at the age of three (Wagenknecht 4). His schooling continued in 1815 with his entrance into the Portland Academy. At the age of fourteen, Longfellow entered Bowdoin College where his academic brilliance earned him a position of fourth in a graduating class of thirty-eight (Williams, Preface). Stephen Longfellow encouraged his son to pursue a stable career in law, but Longfellow's love of words led him to accept the "newly established professorship of modern languages at Bowdoin College" (Wagenknecht 3). He traveled extensively in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany to refine his language skills in preparation! for his six-year long professorship. Harvard University offered Longfellow the "Smith Professorship of French and Spanish" in 1834 and he, again, traveled to Europe. His wife of four years, Mary Storer Potter, accompanied him o
Longfellow drafted "The Rainy Day" in 1841 at his childhood home in Portland. According to Cecil B. Williams, it is one of his "best-known short lyrics;" it is composed of only three stanzas containing five lines apiece (Williams 133). Edward Wagenknecht comments upon the poem's seemingly "mathematical" balance, crediting this harmonious poise to the first stanza's description of the rainy day, the second stanza's reference to Longfellow's life and stanza three's comparison of the previous two stanzas (Wagenknecht 72). The poem is a prominent example of man's ability to overcome his sorrows. In the second stanza of "The Rainy Day," Longfellow drafts such "self-pitying lines as 'My life is cold, and dark, and dreary' " (Williams 133). He exaggerates his feelings of despair in relationship to his age. These feelings are indicated in lines eight and nine, when he relates that his "thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past," while the "hopes of youth" are destroyed by time's deadly sickle (lines 8-9). Longfellow was thirty-four when he composed this poem, and his waning youth may have become apparent to him as he sat contemplating this useless rainy day. Many critics propose that the last stanza of the poem should have been omitted, but Edward Wagenknecht feels that is a "necessary addition, without which the poem would have little meaning" (Wagenknecht 73). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The poem begins in a despairing mood, with Longfellow describing a "dark" and "dreary" day (Arvin 97). It is raining, the wind is blowing incessantly, and the poet's reference to "dead leaves" indicates a somber tone. The third line: "The vine still clings to the mouldering wall" represents Longfellow's thoughts that his life has been in vain, his toils wasted (line 3). He ends the poem by restating the first line, emphasizing that the day is "dark and dreary" (line 5). The second stanza discusses Longfellow's life and how he compares it to the rainy day. "Each morning" and "each night" are representative not only of periods of a day, but are a metaphor for life as well. The deeds that the blacksmith has performed in his daily life, from youth to old age, will earn his "repose" in death (line 42). The second line of this stanza describes the blacksmith's perseverance through whatever pro
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Approximate Word count = 1576
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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