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生平
其父亲是个律师,母亲尤爱诵读诗歌。他们养育了四男四女,亨利排行第二,其性格秉承父母的气质。
在家庭气氛熏陶下,亨利自小喜爱诗歌和语言,后来入缅因州鲍登学院攻读语言和文学(纳撒尼尔·霍桑是其同班同学),并两度赴欧学习法、义、德、丹麦、瑞典和荷兰等语言,二十八岁即任哈佛大学现代语言教授。
世界上第一首译为中文的英语诗是朗费罗的《人生颂》。时任大清国总理各国事务衙门全权大臣的董恂曾将《人生颂》书于扇面,并转交给远在波士顿的朗费罗,此扇现存于朗费罗故居。
代表作
- 《夜吟》
- 《奴役篇》
- 《伊凡吉林》
- 《海华沙之歌》
- 《基督》
- 《路畔旅舍故事》
外部链接
- 古腾堡计划中Henry Wadsworth Longfellow的作品 - Plain text and HTML
- Works by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at Internet Archive - Scanned books, many illustrated and original editions.
- Audio - Hear the Village Blacksmith
- Maine Historical Society Searchable poem text database, biographical data, lesson plans.
- Longfellow as a translator Public Poet, Private Man: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at 200
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was one of the Fireside Poets from New England.
Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, which was then still part of Massachusetts. He studied at Bowdoin College and became a professor at Bowdoin and later at Harvard College after spending time in Europe. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). He retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing, and he lived the remainder of his life in the Revolutionary War headquarters of George Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His first wife Mary Potter died in 1835 after a miscarriage. His second wife Frances Appleton died in 1861 after sustaining burns when her dress caught fire. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for a time and focused on translating works from foreign languages. He died in 1882.
Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and had success overseas. He has been criticized by some, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.