There are so many wonderful directions you can go with a study on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!  Our top recommendation is simply to read his poetry!  Here are a few ideas to get you started!

Don't have the letter yet?  You can grab the snail mail version here or the digital version here!

For the free downloads to go with our Longfellow we’ve pulled together a small collection of his poems that we think you’ll enjoy!  To get your free downloads go here!

For All Ages

Movie/Video

The Story of Liberty’s “The Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow”

Introduction to The Song of Hiawatha performed by Michael Maglaras

*The entire poem performed by Michael Maglaras on a 5-CD set is available here:
https://amzn.to/36jHXgj

 Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life”

Audiobook

The Song of Hiawatha - listen to the entire poem or just a section at LibraVox or find it on Audible.

Visit

Longfellow House Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial at the intersection of M Street and Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.

Resources

If you don’t already have one, we highly recommend getting a good poetry anthology for your home.  In our home we use Favorite Poems Old and New compiled by Helen Ferris.

Books

Elementary

• Hiawatha illustrated by Susan Jeffers (highly recommended…this book has BEAUTIFUL illustrations!)
  
  
• Paul Revere’s Ride illustrated by Ted Rand
  
  
• The Village Blacksmith illustrated by G Brian Karas
  
  
• The Children’s Hour illustrated by Glenna Lang
  
  
• Poetry for Young People: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow illustrated by Chad Wallace

 Middle School/High School & Beyond

• The Best Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

One Week with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

*For younger students, read or listen to one poem per day.  For older students, do the same and add having them read The Song of Hiawatha in its entirety (available online here) or another of Longfellow’s longer poems such as “Evangeline” or “The Courtship of Miles Standish”. 

For an online anthology of Longfellow’s work with audio recordings, visit Lit2Go.  Additionally, visit the database of Longfellow’s work at Maine Historical Society’s Henry Wadsworth Longfellow website.

All of the poems recommended below are available online (links included) and are available in our free downloads for our Longfellow Letter available here.

Day 1: Learn about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Read the Heritage Letter from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Read Hiawatha’s Childhood from The Song of Hiawatha. I highly recommend listening to it via audiobook if possible.  (LibraVox has a free audio version here)

Day 2: Learn more about Longfellow & Read “The Children’s Hour”

• Watch The Story of Liberty’s “The Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow” (linked above)
• Read Longfellow’s “The Children’s Hour”

Day 3: “The Song of Hiawatha” & “The Village Blacksmith”

• Watch the introduction to The Song of Hiawatha performed by Michael Maglaras (linked above)
• Read Longfellow’s “The Village Blacksmith”

Day 4: “Paul Revere’s Ride”

• Read Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride”

Day 5: Fireside Poetry Tea Time with Longfellow

Longfellow was one of America’s Fireside Poets, so named for their writing of poetry for the “common man” so that families could gather around the fire and read their poetry aloud to each other.  Bake a tasty treat, steep your favorite teas, hot chocolate, or apple cider then gather around the fire to read some additional Longfellow Poems together.

Here are a few ideas:
The Arrow and the Song
Autumn Sonnet
Woods in Winter
Autumn
The Day is Done
The Psalm of Life
The Rainy Day
A Day of Sunshine

 

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