But he also praises Longfellow's strengths. Longfellow was an abolitionist and a multiculturalist long before it was fashionable (8). He also discusses Longfellow's portrayal of himself as a father in his poetry, which is both patriarchal in the traditional, 19th century mode, but still honors the natural impulses of his children as "irascible pranksters" (89). He embraced the rebellion of young, childish spirits as well as portrayed traditional images of family life.
Irmscher faces many challengers as a biographer of Longfellow. First of all, Longfellow led a fairly quiet and uneventful life. He was a good husband and father to his children, and seldom left his home. Although Longfellow had strong political views, he preferred not to speak in public. Because of this lack of many external events of drama, Irmscher focuses on Longfellow's writing, and tries to help the reader see how they illustrate how Longfellow...
Through the book, the reader gains just as much of a sense of what pleased 19th century Americans as Longfellow's own character.
This helps readers appreciate how the 19th century American sensibility was from our own view of what makes good literature. Today, Longfellow's poetic works are seldom read outside of English classes. Even before he died tastes had begun to change. This cultural forgetting of his legacy is reflected in the beginning of the text, where the author notes a scene of the elderly Longfellow encountering a 'fan' who remarks that she thought the poet had been dead for two years already!
But Irmscher makes a persuasive case as to why the poet and his works, even if they might not be popularly read anymore, are still important to study as part of American history, in terms of how Americans viewed their history, Native Americans, family life, and poetry in general.
