Editing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (section)

===Early life and education===
[[File:Longfellow's Birthplace, Portland, ME.jpg|thumb|right|[[159–161 Fore Street|Birthplace of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], Portland, Maine, c. 1910; the house was demolished in 1955.]]
Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, to [[Stephen Longfellow]] and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow in [[Portland, Maine]],<ref>{{harvp|Calhoun|2004|p=5|ps=.}}</ref> then a [[district of Maine|district of Massachusetts]].<ref>{{harvp|Sullivan|1972|p=180|ps=.}}</ref> Although he was born at the now-demolished [[159–161 Fore Street]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Greater Portland Landmarks - Longfellow Birthplace |url=https://www.portlandlandmarks.org/longfellow-birthplace |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=Greater Portland Landmarks |language=en-US}}</ref> he grew up in what is now known as the [[Wadsworth-Longfellow House]] on [[Congress Street (Portland, Maine)|Congress Street]]. His father was a lawyer, and his maternal grandfather was [[Peleg Wadsworth]], a general in the [[American Revolutionary War]] and a Member of Congress.<ref>[http://www.hwlongfellow.org/family_genealogy.shtml Wadsworth–Longfellow Genealogy] at ''Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – A Maine Historical Society Web Site''</ref> His mother was descended from [[Richard Warren]], a passenger on the ''[[Mayflower]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://famouskin.com/famous-kin-chart.php?name=9317+richard+warren&kin=8053+henry+wadsworth+longfellow|title = Family relationship of Richard Warren and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow via Richard Warren}}</ref> He was named after his mother's brother Henry Wadsworth, a Navy lieutenant who had died three years earlier at the [[Second Battle of Tripoli Harbor|Battle of Tripoli]].<ref>{{harvp|Arvin|1963|p=7|ps=.}}</ref> He was the second of eight children.<ref>{{harvp|Thompson|1938|p=16|ps=.}}</ref>

Longfellow was descended from English colonists who settled in [[New England]] in the early 1600s.<ref>Farnham, Russell Clare and Dorthy Evelyn Crawford. ''A Longfellow Genealogy: Comprising the English Ancestry and Descendants of the Immigrant William Longfellow of Newbury, Massachusetts, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow''. Walrus Publishers, 2002.</ref> They included ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims [[Richard Warren]], [[William Brewster (Mayflower passenger)|William Brewster]], and [[John Alden|John]] and [[Priscilla Alden]] through their daughter [[Elizabeth Pabodie]], the first child born in [[Plymouth Colony]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hwlongfellow.org/pdf/hwl_ancestrychart.pdf|title=Direct Ancestors of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|website=Hwlongfellow.org|access-date=June 4, 2022}}</ref>

Longfellow attended a [[dame school]] at the age of three and was enrolled by age six at the private [[Portland Academy (Maine)|Portland Academy]]. In his years there, he earned a reputation as being very studious and became fluent in Latin.<ref name=Arvin11/> His mother encouraged his enthusiasm for reading and learning, introducing him to ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' and ''[[Don Quixote]]''.<ref>{{harvp|Sullivan|1972|p=181|ps=.}}</ref> He published his first poem at age 13 in the Portland ''Gazette'' on November 17, 1820, a patriotic and historical four-stanza poem called "The Battle of Lovell's Pond".<ref>{{harvp|Calhoun|2004|p=24|ps=.}}</ref> He studied at the Portland Academy until age 14. He spent much of his summers as a child at his grandfather Peleg's farm in [[Hiram, Maine]].

In the fall of 1822, 15-year-old Longfellow enrolled at [[Bowdoin College]] in [[Brunswick, Maine]], along with his brother Stephen.<ref name=Arvin11>{{harvp|Arvin|1963|p=11|ps=.}}</ref> His grandfather was a founder of the college<ref>{{harvp|Calhoun|2004|p=16|ps=.}}</ref> and his father was a trustee.<ref name=Arvin11/> There Longfellow met [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] who became his lifelong friend.<ref>{{harvp|McFarland|2004|pp=58–59|ps=.}}</ref> He boarded with a clergyman for a time before rooming on the third floor<ref>{{harvp|Calhoun|2004|p=33|ps=.}}</ref> in 1823 of what is now known as Winthrop Hall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bowdoin.edu/reslife/housing/options/winthrop.shtml|title=Winthrop Hall |website=bowdoin.edu|access-date=July 31, 2016}}</ref> He joined the [[Peucinian Society]], a group of students with [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]] leanings.<ref name=Calhoun37>{{harvp|Calhoun|2004|p=37|ps=.}}</ref> In his senior year, Longfellow wrote to his father about his aspirations:

<blockquote>I will not disguise it in the least...the fact is, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature, my whole soul burns most ardently after it, and every earthly thought centres in it...I am almost confident in believing, that if I can ever rise in the world it must be by the exercise of my talents in the wide field of literature.<ref>{{harvp|Arvin|1963|p=13|ps=.}}</ref></blockquote>

He pursued his literary goals by submitting poetry and prose to various newspapers and magazines, partly due to encouragement from Professor [[Thomas Cogswell Upham]].<ref name=Sullivan184>{{harvp|Sullivan|1972|p=184|ps=.}}</ref> He published nearly 40 minor poems between January 1824 and his graduation in 1825.<ref>{{harvp|Arvin|1963|p=14|ps=.}}</ref> About 24 of them were published in the short-lived Boston periodical ''The United States Literary Gazette''.<ref name=Calhoun37/> When Longfellow graduated from Bowdoin, he was ranked fourth in the class and had been elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]].<ref>[http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_InfoView.aspx?t=&id=59 Who Belongs To Phi Beta Kappa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103230618/http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_InfoView.aspx?t=&id=59 |date=January 3, 2012 }}, Phi Beta Kappa website, accessed October 4, 2009</ref> He gave the student commencement address.<ref name=Sullivan184/>