Born in 1807 in Portland, Maine. At the age of 19, Henry was asked to become a professor at Bowdoin College. In May of 1826, he set off to Europe to turn himself into a scholar and linguist. He was married in 1831 and settled down in a house where he translated books and contributed travel sketches to the New England magazine. In 1834, he was appointed a professorship at Harvard. "Evangeline", a work inspired by Nathaniel Hawthrorne, was published in 1847 and was widely acclaimed. In 1854, he retired from Harvard and began work on "The Song of Hiawatha." After the death of his wife, he moved to Europe, where he spent the rest of his days as a translator. Longfellow died on March 24, 1882.