, to see if you have full access to this publication.
Book Titles No access

Longfellow's Imaginative Engagement

The Works of His Late Career
Authors:
Publisher:
 2022

Summary

Longfellow’s Imaginative Engagement is a first-of-its-kind study of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s late-career poems and biography from 1861 until 1882, covering the poet’s posthumous publications and the handling of his literary estate. Using never-before-discussed archival materials from Harvard’s Houghton Library and the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, including unpublished poems and poem fragments, this literary biography presents Longfellow’s vibrant and complex final two decades. After the tragic death of his beloved second wife, Frances (Fanny) Elizabeth Appleton, Longfellow reinvented himself as a creative artist, transforming his loss and the nation’s suffering in the Civil War and postwar period into compelling art. In this book, Jeffrey Hotz interprets the distinct phases of Longfellow’s late career, exploring his narrative poetry, translations, personal lyrics, religious poetry, aesthetic verse, and end-of-life vision of mortality as a journey. He considers Longfellow’s friendships and family life, publication strategies and literary reputation, and the recurrent theme of longing for an ideal female figure in his poems and private life. Interweaving unpublished poems and poem fragments with interpretations of published collections, Longfellow’s Imaginative Engagement examines the poet’s complex voice, which captured the public’s imagination, making him America’s most famous poet in the nineteenth century.

Keywords



Bibliographic data

Copyright year
2022
ISBN-Print
978-1-61147-775-7
ISBN-Online
978-1-61147-776-4
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
586
Product type
Book Titles

Table of contents

ChapterPages
    1. Contents No access
    2. A Note on Quotations No access
    3. Acknowledgments No access
  1. Introduction No access Pages 1 - 46
    1. Pursuing Successful Publication Because of Personal and National Tragedy No access
    2. Narratives of Recuperation and Loss in Tales of a Wayside Inn No access
    1. The Divine Comedy Translation No access
    2. Ideals of Completion and Unity No access
    3. The New England Tragedies and the Restless Yearning for Feminist Ideals No access
    1. Anxiety about Personal Faith in Public Art No access
    2. Christianity as an Incomplete Project No access
    3. Continuities and Collisions of Faith No access
    1. New Directions No access
    2. Aftermath and the Arts of Personal Disclosure and Desire No access
    3. The Imperatives of Love and the Beautiful in The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems No access
    1. Preparing for Charted and Uncharted Journeys No access
    2. The Aesthetic World and the Inner Self No access
    3. Ultima Thule as the Final Spiritual and Artistic Journey No access
    1. After March 24, 1882 No access
    2. Visions of the Multiverse No access
  2. Epilogue No access Pages 507 - 536
  3. Appendix No access Pages 537 - 540
  4. Bibliography No access Pages 541 - 564
  5. General Index No access Pages 565 - 574
  6. Published Poem Index No access Pages 575 - 580
  7. Unpublished Poem and Poem Fragment Index No access Pages 581 - 582
  8. Short Translated Poem Index No access Pages 583 - 584
  9. About the Author No access Pages 585 - 586

Similar publications

from the topics "Linguistics"
Cover of book: Aufklärung und Residenzstadt
Edited Book No access
Martin Mulsow, Dirk Sangmeister
Aufklärung und Residenzstadt
Cover of book: Johnson-Jahrbuch 30/2025
Edited Book No access
Holger Helbig, Ulrich Fries, Stefanie Kohl
Johnson-Jahrbuch 30/2025
Cover of book: Lessing Yearbook/Jahrbuch LII, 2025
Edited Book No access
Carl Niekerk, Thomas Martinec
Lessing Yearbook/Jahrbuch LII, 2025
Cover of book: Postcolonial Studies
Educational Book No access
Dirk Uffelmann, Paweł Zajas
Postcolonial Studies