"What was Longfellow like?" young people eagerly inquire when they first discover his poetry. He must have liked Indians and children and America and ships and mighty blacksmiths...

But what was he really like? Here, in this complete story of his life, the reader will find out—he will romp with young Henry in the Maine woods; travel and study with him in Europe; stroll with him through the streets of Cambridge; laugh and cry with him as happiness and tragedy come to the Longfellow family.

This, then, is the biography for those who have just begun to recite "Under the spreading chestnut tree..." and for everyone whose first venture into poetry would be incomplete without Hiawatha, Evangeline, The Courtship of Miles Standish, and all the memorable poems Longfellow gave to the world.

From the dust jacket