Cross of Snow
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TL;DR: An excellent literary biography. Well-worth the read; you’ll learn about far more than Longfellow’s life.
An engaging, educational read, Cross of Snow seems more than a biography of Longfellow. In some reviews I’ve perused, this is viewed as negative. For me, it’s a positive. The vast amount of information Basbanes provides about Longfellow’s contemporaries - including his wife, Fanny - really illuminates Longfellow’s place in the society of the time.
From Portland to Brunswick to Europe to Cambridge, this book tells the story of Longfellow’s life and his intellectual development in a way that makes the reader want to keep reading. It’s not a dry recitation of facts, but the story of a life and its achievements and sorrows. With mighty amounts of information pulled from personal letters and journals, the reader has perspective on Longfellow’s thoughts and feelings beyond what’s reflected in his published literary works, as well as the muses working to propel some of those works. The turns of phrase used in his letters and journals make them as much a literary adventure as any of his poems.
Longfellow’s overall place in history may be understated in the 21st century, and Basbanes acknowledges this in the book’s opening chapter. He does his part to remind the reader of the subtle ways Longfellow exists in our minds without us even knowing thanks to phrases like “footprints on the sands of time.”
He also firmly establishes Longfellow as a kind, generous man who opened his home, cared for his friends and his fans, and felt the weight of the world at times.
For purposes of a ‘Maine’ book, not much time is spent on the poet’s early life in Portland and Brunswick, though it is certainly effectively addressed, including his late-in-life public appearance at his 50th Bowdoin reunion. Mentions of his extended family in Portland dot the book as well. However, it’s well worth the read to better get to know Longfellow, a luminary standing with deep family heritage and his own youth set in Maine.