Kinnison Fireside Poets Quiz

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendall Holmes, James Russell Lowell, & John Greenleaf Whittier

In the later half of 19th century, his poetry was…

a “universal pastime and delight”

Where was Longfellow born and raised

Portland, Maine

Where did he attend college?

Bowdoin College

After College where did Longfellow go?

Spent 3 years in europe before returning to Bowdoin as a professor of modern languages

He left the college after 5 yrs and went to Europe before accepting a position at which university?

Harvard University where he taught for 18 yrs

How did Longfellow’s First wife (Mary) die?

She died in Europe in 1835 from an infection following a miscarriage

Longfellow married Frances Appleton of Boston 8 yrs later, how did she die?

She was fatally burned in a household accident. Longfellow’s attempts to beat out the flames left him badly burned resulting in scars that prevented him from shaving hence the long beard.

How did Longfellow write?

He experimented with adapting traditional European verse forms and themes to American subjects, many of his works have a romanticized view of America’s early history and democratic ideals

Why was Longfellow’s Poetry Criticized?

it was overly optimistic and sentimental, but it is what made him the most popular poet of all time. Became known as “fireside poet”, works that were read by families gathered around the fireplace

Longfellow wrote “A Psalm of life” in 1838 after suffering through what?

the tragic death of his first wife, Mary, coupled with the loss of the child they were expecting. The poem was an inspiration to himself and others to overcome the misfortunes of the past and to live productively in the present, “A Psalm of Life” is a work of a man whose life is nearing its end.

Background understanding for “The tide rises, The Tide Falls”

reveals Poet’s acceptance of the inevitability of death.

Stanzas

Units of 2 or more lines arranged in a pattern of rhythm (or meter) and rhyme.

More about Stanzas

Each stanza develops a single main idea, oftena fixed length. named according to the # of lines they contain. 2 line stanza- Couplet, 4 line- Quatrain, & 5 Line- Cinquain

To discover their deeper meaning do what?

associate the images with life , Writers often use images that take on greater meaning when we consider them as symbols of larger ideas and principles. Many of images in poems deal with journey, Longfellow uses it to foreshadow the end of a lifetime

Why do poets change the normal English sentence order of subject-verb- compliment?

to achieve a rhyme or maintain a certain rhyme (inverted word order-reversing the subject and verd of a sentence)

what can be placed at the start of a sentence or line of poetry to achieve emphasis

The complement- the word or group of words that completes the meaning of the predicate

-face- (Latin Root)

ex-, meaning “out” or “without”, face-, meaning “appearance or outward aspect”".

what does to efface a footprint mean

to remove any trace of its appearance

Bivouc

temporary encampment

Sublime

Noble; inspiring

efface

erase, wipe out