(1807-1882)
The Creative Mind Behind "The Cross of Snow"
Longfellow was one of the fireside poets in the 1800's--a fireside poet meaning that
families would gather by the fire and read his poems aloud. The only difference between
Longfellow and other fireside poets of the time was that he was the most popular. In fact, Longfellow
is the most popular poet America has ever produced. School children memorized his poems at school,
house wives sung his verse as they scrubbed laundry, the new industrial workers chanted his lines
through the steam and heat.
A Boston poet, Longfellow was interested in foreign languages and other countrys' literature.
He took many trips to Europe studying languages. Longfellow married, and on one trip to Europe in 1835,
his wife went into labor. She had a miscarriage and died. Longfellow was devastated and returned to America
to teach foreign language. Longfellow married Frances (Franny) Appleton seven years later, a woman whom he had met in Europe
after his first wife's death. With this second marriage Longfellow once again became happy
and produced some of his greatest poems during this period. The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 15,000
copies on its first day of publication. Longfellow earned enough money from poetry to resign from his teachings
at Harvard and devote himself to just writing.
In 1861 the Longfellows were on the way to their summer home when Franny received notice that
her father had grown ill. Postponing their visit to the summer house, the Longfellows went to care for Franny's father.
One day, at her Father's home, Franny and her daughter were sealing envelops using a candle and hot wax. The candle
fell from the table, igniting Franny's summer dress. Longfellow heard the desperate cries from the room and rushed in to see his
wife on fire. He ran to her, covering her head with his arms so her face would not get burned. He struggled to get the fire out
as he too was now on fire.
That night doctor's cared for Franny's severe burns, but she died of shock later that evening. Longfellow was also cared for and went into shock as well,
but he did not die. Franny was buried a few days later on the Longfellow's anniversary. Longfellow himself could not attend
the funeral because he was confined to bed with the burns he had suffered. Franny's father died the day after her own death.
Longfellow raised the children himself and spent the next eighteen years not mentioning the hurt he felt about the lost
of Franny. Eighteen years after her death Longfellow finally gave notice to his sorrow by writing a Petarchan Sonnet called
"The Cross of Snow." In the poem he describes painfully how he felt, even after such a long time, and how much he missed her.
Longefellow died in 1882 and "The Cross of Snow" was never discovered until it was found among his papers. It was
published posthumously and has become one of his greatest poems. In 1894 Longfellow became the first American
to be honored in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.
In the long, sleepless watches of the night
A gentle face--the face of one long dead--
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died; and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.