Forever and Forever (Historical Proper Romance) (38 page)

Fanny’s journals show increased study and reading during 1840, including her enjoyment of two lectures given by Richard Henry Dana Sr. that fall, which I assume would have been part of the lecture circuit Henry had been instrumental in developing. She likely did not attend the lecture with Jewett as her thoughts in this chapter were written in a letter to him. Henry’s introduction of Mr. Dana is fictional.

Fanny had always been interested in literature, but it was at this time that she seemed to truly take on the cloak of a critic and expanded her reading to new places. Henry did not necessarily recommend she read Macaulay’s lecture, but they did discuss Milton during their time in Europe and she did enjoy the essay first published in the Edinburgh Review that she had read during the summer of 1840.

Incidentally, Henry and Fanny’s daughter Edith would eventually marry the grandson of Mr. Dana, Richard Henry Dana III, in 1878. Their son would be the last Longfellow to live in Craigie Castle prior to the house and its contents being donated to the National Park Service in 1972.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ronald Mackintosh’s delivery was a difficult one, but the effects were not well understood until Tom and Fanny went to England. Though what Molly’s diagnosis would be today is unknown, she had specific problems with her hips and, likely, an opium addiction as a result of trying to manage the pain. The effects of opiates were not well understood at that time.

That there would have been such a formal “counsel” between Fanny, Tom, and Robert as shown here is unknown, but we do know that Fanny and Tom were attentive to Molly’s needs while still seeing the sights of England.

Tom and Fanny would have arrived in Liverpool and likely made their own way to London rather than being picked up by Robert.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mrs. Craigie’s failing eyesight is a fictional detail, but Henry did sit with her as she became ill, and she enjoyed his work and his company during the years of their friendship. Upon the death of Elizabeth Craigie, John Worcester, the other boarder at Craigie House at the time, leased the property from the Craigie heirs and lived in his half with his new wife.

I’m unsure what legal agreements might have been entered into between Henry, Worchester, and Mrs. Craigie, but after Henry’s marriage to Fanny, Nathan Appleton was able to purchase the house. Worcester and his wife continued to live there until the home they were having built was finished, at which time the Longfellows became the sole occupants of Craigie House, determined to preserve its legacy.

That Mrs. Craigie once told Henry that she feared seeing an old woman in bed would deter him from marriage seems a reflection of the level of friendship the two of them shared. The story of the canker worms is often shared to illustrate Mrs. Craigie’s eccentric nature that increased as she aged.

Chapters Thirty and Thirty-One

Henry did not bring Fanny a cheese or a copy of
Ballads and Other Poems,
though she had read it by the time the New Year came along. The thoughts shared in this chapter by Emmeline are actually Fanny’s thoughts from her letter regarding
Voices of Night,
which had been published in 1839, a few months after
Hyperion.

I do not know where Fanny’s heart was when Henry came to visit, but she recorded in her journal that it was a “heavy visit.” I had the visit take place with only the two of them in order to give Henry and Fanny an exclusive conversation.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The relationship between Harriet and Fanny is not well communicated in letters and journals. Whether that was because it was unremarkable or because Fanny was attempting to be polite we do not know. We also don’t know what type of mother Harriet was, but Fanny did love her half siblings, and when she became a mother, she was very involved in the daily lives of her own children. I would imagine that seeing Harriet—a woman not much older than Fanny—would have been a powerful example to Fanny, which I chose to reflect. However, it is speculation based on little more than impressions and hopes.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The Water Cure was based on the idea that impurities in the body could be “broken” with an induced “fever” and minimalistic approach to diet and activity. Henry arrived at the convent, which had been turned into a medical spa of sorts, in late May and resided there for four months, taking multiple baths in the waters every day, eating a very bland diet, and getting plenty of rest and relaxation.

Henry did not have a face-to-face meeting with Sumner before he left for Europe; instead, Sumner sent him a letter that expressed the depth of their friendship, which I tried to reflect here. Sumner struggled socially and may have had what we would call Asperger’s as he functioned on a highly logical plain.

In their later years, after Sumner had risen in the ranks of the Republican party, a famous portrait was done of the two of them titled
The Politician and the Poet.
It shows the striking contrast between the two men even in their appearance: Sumner was big and broad and imposing, while Henry looked like . . . a poet.

They remained close friends until Sumner’s death in 1874, an event that was difficult for Henry due to how close the men had been.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Though there may not have been medical merit to the Water Cure, it did seem to be effective for Henry, restoring his health and equilibrium of mind. He returned to Cambridge in the fall of 1842 believing that he had finally overcome the hold Fanny had on him as well as accepting that he was not just a writer but a poet. He was also able to deepen his friendship with Charles Dickens while in London, and he made a dear friend in Ferdinand Freiligrath, who had great influence on the works that followed. He was inspired at this time to write the sonnet “Mezzo Cammin,” included in this chapter, but which Henry considered too personal to publish in his lifetime.

On the sea voyage back to Boston, he wrote his first antislavery poems, a daring prospect at the time and one that began to shape his future in numerous ways. It was published as a thin volume entitled
Poems on Slavery
in December of that year.

All in all, the Water Cure seemed to be a turning point for Henry, and he left his darkest days behind him, though he would never be completely free of his depressive episodes.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The scene of Fanny recreating “The Bridge” is fictional; there is no indication that particular poem had any special meaning to her. That she spent the year of 1842 rereading Henry’s works and changing her heart is also of my creation.

We do know from her journals that 1842 was a year of spiritual awakening, and she seemed to mature a great deal. She was lonely without her siblings and friends around her, and she continued to read and study a great deal, which likely led her to a softened heart—especially in regard to Henry.

Chapters Thirty-Six and Thirty-Seven

On April 10, 1843, Henry and Fanny attended a party at the home of a mutual friend, Andrew Norton. We do not know the details of their interaction at this event other than Fanny was more attentive to Henry than she had been in the past, and Henry felt encouraged to renew his attentions toward her, which he did.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

On May 10, Fanny wrote a letter to Henry, in response to one of his own, where she confirmed her love for him and essentially accepted his proposal. Henry was so energized by her pronouncement that he walked from his house on Brattle Street in Cambridge to Beacon Hill—approximately a ninety-minute walk. His path led him over the West Boston Bridge, featured in his poem “The Bridge.” It was rebuilt in 1906 and renamed “The Longfellow Bridge” in 1927, in commemoration of Henry’s walk to Fanny Appleton.

For the rest of his life, Henry would reverence May 10 as his “Personal Easter”—a day in which redemption came in the form of the woman he loved giving him her heart. Finally.

Timeline

July 1836: Henry meets the Appleton family in Thun, Switzerland, and spends nearly three weeks with them.

Fall 1837: Henry begins his attempts to court Fanny, proposes marriage, and is refused.

January 1839: Mr. Appleton marries Harriet Coffin Sumner, a woman twenty-two years his junior.

Summer 1839:
Hyperion
is published.

December 1839:
Voices of Night
is published. Molly marries Robert Mackintosh on December 26.

1841:
Ballads and Other Poems
is published.

April–September 1842: Henry takes his third European tour, including the Water Cure in Germany.

December 1842:
Poems on Slavery
is published.

April 1843: Henry attends the Nortons’ party and is received more warmly by Fanny.

May 10, 1843: Fanny sends Henry her letter requesting that he formally renew his attentions to her. Henry walks from Cambridge to accept the offer.

May 1843:
The Spanish Student
is published.

July 13, 1843: Henry and Fanny marry in the drawing room of 39 Beacon Street.

Fall/Winter 1843: Nathan Appleton purchases Craigie House and the acreage between it and the Charles River as a wedding present for Henry and Fanny.

June 9, 1844: Charles Appleton is born.
Poets and Poetry of England
is published.

1845: Ernest Wadsworth is born.
The Belfry of Brugs and Other Poems
is published.
Poems
is
published.

1846:
The Waif
is published.
The Estray
is published.

1847: Frances is born.
Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
is published.

1848: Frances dies.

1849:
The Seaside and the Fireside
is published.

1850: Alice Mary is born.

1851:
Kavanagh
is published.
The Golden Legend
is published.

1853: Edith is born with the help of ether for sedation.

1854: Henry retires from Harvard College, becomes America’s first professional poet.

1855: Anne Allegra is born.
The Song of Hiawatha
is published.

1858:
The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems
is published.

1860:
Paul Revere’s Ride
is published in
The Atlantic
magazine.

July 9, 1861: Fanny’s dress catches fire. She dies the next day as a result of her injuries.

July 13, 1861: Fanny is buried on the couple’s eighteenth wedding anniversary.

July 14, 1861: Nathan Appleton, who was too ill to attend Fanny’s funeral, dies at his home on Beacon Hill.

1863: Part one of
Tales of a Wayside Inn
is published. Henry writes “Christmas Bells” on Christmas Day.

1865: “The Dante Club” is formally organized to assist in Longfellow’s ongoing translation of Dante’s
Divine Comedy.
Household Poems
is published. “Christmas Bells” is published in
Our Young Folks
magazine.

1866:
Poetical Works
is published.

1867: English translation of Dante’s
Divine Comedy
is published, entitled
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

1868:
The New England Tragedies
is published. Henry takes his children, daughter-in-law, Tom Appleton, two of Henry’s sisters, and former governess on an European tour.

1870: Part two of
Tales of a Wayside Inn
is published.

1871:
The Divine Tragedy
is published.

1872:
Three Books of Song
is published. John Baptiste Calkin first puts “Christmas Bells” to music, beginning the legacy of the now-popular Christmas carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

1873:
Aftermath
is published.
The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
is published.

1874: “The Hanging of the Crane” is sold to a New York magazine for $4,000, the highest amount ever paid for any poem to date.