Longfellow in Love

After four years of travel in Europe, including a full year of being in love with Giulia Persiani in Rome, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow returned home in 1829 and fell in love again, this time with Miss Mary Storer Potter, whom he married in 1831. They travelled together to England and Scandinavia in 1834, but their happiness was cut short—and Henry was forced to continue through Germany mostly alone. In 1836, however, traveling in Switzerland, he met the woman who would become the grand passion of his life, 18-year-old Fanny Appleton of 39 Beacon Street, Boston. But Fanny Appleton, a wealthy textile heiress, wasn’t interested in settling down with a Harvard professor. She remained unyielding for six years, and then suddenly changed her mind, accepted the professor, and married him on July 13, 1843. For the next eighteen years they were America’s Couple—and Longfellow became America’s Poet. And then tragedy hit once again.

Edward M. Cifelli has written literary biographies of two other American poets, David Humphreys (18th Century) and John Ciardi (20th Century), has edited books of letters, poetry and essays, and has written movie reviews for the New Jersey Herald. He lives in Dade City, Florida.