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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was undoubtedly one of the most influential and beloved poets of his time. His verse tends to be formally and thematically conventional, which gives his poems the air of ease and tradition that made them popular staples both in the classroom and at home. Longfellow was born and raised in Portland, Maine, at a time when it was still part of Massachusetts. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but Longfellow excelled at the study of languages and instead pursued a career as a scholar and poet. He took several trips to Europe and returned with impressive knowledge about its languages and literatures.

In 1845 he compiled the anthology The Poets and Poetry of Europe, which introduced many American readers to the breadth of European verse. Longfellow also brought some of this variety into his own poetry. For instance, he adapted classical Greek meters in Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (1847), and he adopted a Finnish folk meter for his great poem, The Song of Hiawatha (1855). Though Longfellow enjoyed great fame during his life, his influence has diminished over the past century, as literary tastes have shifted away from the genteel literary tradition he represented so well.

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