Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1996) by Anthony Thwaite – Sold by Crappy Old Books

Polish your spectacles and prepare to rekindle your relationship with America’s most moustachioed bard in this thoughtful 1996 study of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, brought to you by Anthony Thwaite and the good people at Everyman. Bridging the Atlantic with poetic grace and Victorian earnestness, Thwaite reintroduces us to the once-revered, now-awkwardly-forgotten figure who gave us The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, and that thing about the blacksmith.

In this compact yet insightful volume, Thwaite separates the enduring lyricism from the creeping sentimentality, sketching Longfellow not just as a cultural monument, but as a working poet, grief-stricken husband, and reluctant celebrity. Whether you come for the meter or stay for the melancholy, it’s a brisk, intelligent read for anyone who suspects there’s more to Longfellow than “by the shores of Gitche Gumee.”

Condition: Slightly curled, faint smell of attic, but the words still sing like a black-and-white movie in iambic tetrameter.

Crappy Old Books: For those who like their literary criticism with a whiff of dust and dignity.

Like new except for the remains of a price stcker on the cover which you could easily remove with a bit of patience.

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