Poem on box of tea, 1995
Item 10591 info
Maine Historical Society
Longfellow's Voices of the Night, published in 1839 when he was 32 years old, included such poems as "A Psalm of Life" and "The Wreck of the Hesperus."
He already had published a travel book, several textbooks, translations, scholarly articles, and some fiction, but it was this volume that announced him as a poet and seemed to herald a new American literature.
His poetry has been a continuous presence in our language ever since. Merchants and manufacturers quote him on their products, journalists and preachers quote him in their articles and sermons, and ordinary men and women quote him in their daily lives.
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