Talk:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Good article Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has been listed as one of the Language and literature good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.
March 13, 2008 Good article nominee Listed
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Contents

[edit] Harry Wadsworth Club

I deleted the part about the Harry Wadsworth Club because it does not seem to be related to Longfellow. According to Mass Historical Society documents,

"It was Greenleaf who inspired the character of "Harry Wadsworth" in Ten Times One Is Ten."

"In addition to "Ten Times One Clubs," other names chosen by clubs included "Harry Wadsworth Clubs,"

http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0120 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Alcinoe (talk • contribs) 14:40, 4 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Antiquarian

Longfellow was interested in pre-Columbian American history and penned some poems about the subject (see The Skeleton in Armor article. Would it be appropriate to mention that in this article?--Caliga10 13:21, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Quotations

One of the reasons HWL is disdained is that he seems to use cliches. In fact, many of the so-called cliches were ORIGINATED by him. Let's put some of these phrases onto the page. Kdammers 10:33, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Here's one -- "ships that pass in the night", from The Theologian's Tale; Elizabeth:
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

[edit] Image of Mrs. Longfellow

Please fix the {{PD - art}}. template. Thank you. 69.86.252.42 14:30, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I fixed it - I was the one who added the picture. Alcinoe 03:30, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Interesting Fact

I'm related to him x] I know I'm not really supposed to write this but you know. Go ahead, delete it.

That's an interesting fact about you, not about him :) Silarius 04:09, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

It is a boring fact. It shall remain here as testament to that fact.

[edit] Where's his other wife?

There is a section in the article about Longfellow's marriage to Fanny Appleton but it mentions that he is burried with both of his wives. Where's the info about the other one? TarTar Sauce 23:54, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

His first wife died in Europe and her body was sent back to Cambridge Massachusetts. http://www.hwlongfellow.org/life_bowdoin.shtml
This should probably be added to the article, don't you think? --Loomos 23:29, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Schools named after him

This should be cleaned up. It started out with one school. I did a quick check, since I figured there were many. So I just listed the first states that I ran across. Maybe some-one can check (or would that be doing forbidden original research :) ?) and change the text to some-thing like "Many / Most states have schools named after him." Kdammers 12:21, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Interesting! Why is there nothing...at all?

By the sound of your discussion, was everything deleted a while ago or something? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.218.171.133 (talk) 14:58, 27 February 2007 (UTC).

No, a vandal just removed it. I'm restoring it now. Nyttend 15:15, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Under Longfellow's Work, 1st paragraph, last sentence says: He had become one of the first American celebrities, and was widely deletehis poetry. huh?

This user IP (68.94.17.194) blanked the page. I replaced it with the last known good version.Raan0001 00:06, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Death of second wife - date

http://www.ezine.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/1596 nd http://dlstewart.com/longfellow/LongfellowBio.htm

both give July 9 as the date of Frances's death. The most recent change here (ca. 14 April 2007) appears to be vandalism. Wik earlier had her death on the 10th, after the accident on the 9th. Can some-one check a reliable source, put in the correct date, and make a ref or note as to the source? Please. Kdammers 04:57, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Add to works

I think that maybe we should have a complete list of longfellow's works, as it is now scattered throughout the textBRAD 18:12, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

A complete list of long works (shorter ones can be included in 'collected works' or some such thing) would be good. Kdammers 09:58, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
I added a list Alcinoe 12:52, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] MP3 link

I can get to the site, but the texts I clicked on didn't activate. Could some-one else check to see if this is just a problem I have or whether the site is defective. Kdammers 09:58, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Where is the mp3 link that you were trying to access? Alcinoe 21:46, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I think I was referring to the "listen to audio" link. In any case, when I now click on "listen to audio," I get a site whose button does not activate any audio on my computer.
I see what you mean. About a year ago, changes were made in the way that some things are embedded into web pages. The audio, which probably used to work perfectly, now requires that you click once anywhere on the audio box before pressing the play button. Doing this will make the play button work.

[edit] Help!

The latest edit (present 07-6-6)seems to be very complex and might include both vandalism and valid changes! Also, the html text includes a misspelling of Wadsworth (i.e., Wasdworth), but it doesn't show up on the users' version. kdammers (tildes don't work).

[edit] love as in poetry

Could some one please help me?.Im looking for a short preface to a poetry book that i read to my wife 18yr. ago when i ask her to merry me.It started with something like,Love as with poetry does not have to wait the test of time.I think it was wriyen by Longfellow.03:06, 4 July 2007 (UTC)12.192.17.187

There is a similar quote by Robert Frost "...permanence in poetry as in love is perceived instantly. It hasn't to await the test of time." You can find it on page 229 of a biography of Frost here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=rHWqRHJiAlwC&pg=PP1&ots=mTf_lRciD2&dq=Robert+frost+a+life&sig=JpUcNs0j-NRvHu2n8ZXWHETsQpw#PPA10,M1p229 Alcinoe 07:04, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


Should'nt a mention be put in about he might have attended Berwick Academy in his youth?

dbottino

[edit] Image

I've swapped out the main image for a more high-resolution one, moving the old one (which is good, but lowish resolution) elsewhere in the article. Adam Cuerden talk 08:45, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mis-reference

I've removed "Longfellow birthplace" from fn/ref 4. There were two identical external links with different descriptions. As far as I can tell the link is solely to the Craigie House, so this description was incorrect. --Doug.(talk • contribs) 00:29, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Genre?

Should we mention that he was a Romantist? Or is it that his work falls into the Romanticism category? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.131.62.226 (talk) 23:46, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

Hi, I have the picture of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 `The Perry Pictures, Boston Edition Copyright, 1899 by E. A. Perry

Anybody interested? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.253.116.170 (talk) 01:57, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

the picture at the bottom (legacy section) is signed as showing Longfellow in 1893. But according to the data he's been dead for 11 years at the time! There must be a mistake! --Maxl (talk) 10:54, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Looks like a simple misunderstanding... The image was first printed in 1893, not taken in 1893, so that's the confusion. I will change the caption. --Midnightdreary (talk) 13:14, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] critical response

Except for the qualified Poe comments, all we have are negatives here. But HWL was highly regarded during his life-time. Can't some-one look at the critical literature of the time and find a truer refelction of his appraisal? Kdammers (talk) 06:20, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Sorry. It's a work-in-progress. I'm basically re-writing the majority of the article, which will probably take a couple weeks (take a look at the edit history to see how much it's improved in a couple days... I think I'm off to a good start!). It's good to have the negative stuff, of course, but the balance will certainly be the positive (normally it's the other way around, but this is just what I have found thus far). If you have sourced information regarding a positive critical response, feel free to add it in. --Midnightdreary (talk) 13:56, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Quotations

I removed the recently added section on Quotations. For one thing, none of the quotes were sourced, nor was the line that they were "commonplace" today. Besides that, there's a link to Wikiquote. I think that's enough. --Midnightdreary (talk) 13:46, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GA Review

GA review (see here for criteria)

An overall excellent article (small quibble, but the "list of works" section seems to need some organization; seems to me that first unlabelled section has some poetry collections and the Dante translation in it. These should be moved into the appropriate section. Maybe also a labelled column for books and/or plays?)

  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose): b (MoS):
    Good job on the logical quotes, be careful with quotations (short works) and italics(long works, including epic poems). The prose is mostly good, although some parts seem stilted and choppy (ex. the section about the confusion over the manuscript of the play seems odd, extraneous, and unclear). Try to achieve a better balance between short sentences and compound and/or complex sentences.
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
    more sources are never bad, esp. if this is to go on to FAR. More sources would also help expand the criticism and writing section, which is important.
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
    again, this article may need more analysis/interpretation of his writing for FAC
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    Fair representation without bias:
  5. It is stable.
    No edit wars etc.:
  6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
    a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
  7. Overall:
    Pass/Fail:

--Malachirality (talk) 23:58, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks again for taking the time. I'm concerned with the number of sources myself. Unfortunately, before Calhoun, Mr. Longfellow had gone several decades without a proper biography. Most of the sources I could've gotten my hands on were circa 1906 and not written in a very scholarly manner. I'll keep an eye out, though, and I'll definitely try expanding the sections you suggest. --Midnightdreary (talk) 00:18, 14 March 2008 (UTC)