Chapter Chapter 5 of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

"I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature; my whole soul burns ardently for it, and every earthly thought centres in it."

Again he writes: "Whatever I do study ought to be engaged in with all my soul, -- for I will be eminent in something."

At the commencement exercises of his class in 1825, Longfellow spoke on the theme Our Native Writers.

Travel and Study.

The opportunity for further equipment came speedily. A professorship of modern languages had just been established at Bowdoin, and to the young graduate, already marked as a youth of talent, this position was offered with permission to spend three years in Europe for study. The call was accepted with eagerness and delight. This first European sojourn extended from the spring of 1826 to the summer of 1829; and Longfellow returned with a practical knowledge of French, Spanish, and Italian. The study of these languages was then altogether new in American colleges, and much of the professor's time was employed in preparing texts for the use of his students. There was little opportunity for literary composition; nevertheless, during 1833 and 1834, Longfellow began the publication of some travel sketches, which in 1835 appeared in book form under the title of Outre-Mer:¹ A Pilgrimage beyond the Sea. This volume is a lesser Sketch- Book, in the manner of Irving, without his skill.

The Call to Harvard, and the Second Tour.

In 1834, Longfellow received a call from Harvard College, to follow the distinguished scholar George Ticknor in the professorship of Belles-Lettres, which he was about to resign. A second trip abroad followed the acceptance of this call. Longfellow was now accompanied by his wife, -- he had married, in 1831, Miss Mary Potter, of Portland, -- and in the autumn, while they were in Holland, Mrs. Longfellow died. The loneliness and desolation of that experience are suggested in the opening pages of Hyperion:--

"The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone. Shadows of evening fall around us, and the world seems but a dim reflection, -- itself a broader shadow. We look forward into the coming lonely night. The soul withdraws into itself. Then stars arise, and the night is holy."

The poet hastened on to Heidelberg, and, like Paul Flemming, the hero of his romance, buried himself in books.

Professor and Poet.

For eighteen years, from 1836 to 1854, Longfellow retained his active connection with harvard College. However exacting his duties, and there were times when they became irksome, he never slighted them. His students found him patient and gentle; his presence, equally with his instruction, was an inspiration. The poet's life is inseparably associated with the history of Harvard and of Cambridge. In the midst of a distinguished society, he became, as time went on, its most distinguished member. Soon after his arrival in Cambridge, Longfellow had taken rooms in the stately and historic mansion known as Craigie House, celebrated as having been the headquarters of General Washington, but now more famous as the poet's home.¹ It remained his residence until his death.

The Real Beginning.

In 1839, Longfellow published two volumes which commanded immediate recognition. The one, a prose romance, Hyperion, is more or less a record of the moods and thoughts associated with its author's sojourn in Germany and Switzerland, warmly colored by the sentiment of youth and by the imagination of a poet who is stirred by romantic regions and legend-haunted scenes. The other, a thin volume of verse, entitled Voices of the Night, contained a number of his earlier compositions, together with eight