HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
Each year during the month of February, the Brunswick Downtown Association with support from Bowdoin College, the Nathaniel Davis Fund, the Alfred M. Senter fund and the Association of Bowdoin friends, celebrates Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with a series of themed events.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was both a student and professor at Bowdoin College, is best known for his warm-hearted and prolific poetry. However, several of his longer verses, like “The Courtship of Miles Standish” and “The Spanish Student” employ dialogue and dramatic structures. His bibliography also includes “Outre- Mer,” a book of prose sketches; “Hyperion,” a thinly-disguised autobiographical work drawn from his European travels; and “Kavanagh,” a foray into novelwriting that met with mixed success – although his contemporaries Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne were said to admire it. This year’s Longfellow Days theme allows us to touch on some of these lesser-known works and to celebrate the writer’s versatility.
All events are free and open to the public. This week’s events are as follows:
Saturday, Feb. 14, 1 p.m.
SILENT FILM: “The Three Musketeers”
Smith Auditorium, Sills Hall, Bowdoin College
Longfellow did not write it, but he certainly read Alexandre Dumas, père, on whose work Douglas Fairbanks’ 1921 swashbuckler is based. Plus an animated short subject. Remarks by Tricia Welsch, Professor of Film Studies at Bowdoin. Piano accompaniment by Doug Protsik. Sunday, Feb. 15, 1 p.m. The Coursen Readings, Part III Fireplace Room, Curtis Memorial Library
Charles Brown, Helene McGlauflin, and Gary Rainford were all recipients of “The Joy of the Pen” poetry awards, which were sponsored by the Topsham Public Library in 2014. The writers present their work as the Coursen series continues.
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 12:15 p.m.
LECTURE: Parlor games, photographs, panoramas and tableaux
Morrell Room, Curtis Memorial Library
How did HWL spend his offhours? Libby Bischof, Associate Professor of History and Chair, Department of History and Political Science, University of Southern Maine, speaks about public and private forms of entertainment in nineteenth-century America. This lecture is part of the Midcoast Senior College’s Winter Wisdom program.
Thursday, Feb. 19, 10 a.m.
Community readings at Thornton Oaks
Merrymeeting Room, Thornton Oaks, 25 Thornton Way
This gathering, facilitated by poets Ted and Ruth Bookey, is informal and open to everyone. Please bring a poem to share. Refreshments.
Thursday, Feb. 19, 7 p.m.
“Hollow with a Mellow, Resonant Murmer”
Torrey Barn, Cram Alumni House, 83 Federal Street
That’s how William Dean Howells described the sound of his friend Longfellow reading verse. Students from Bowdoin College, directed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Sally Wood, will employ other vocal and dramatic qualities as they present selections from the author’s letters, his poetic dramatic compositions, and excerpts from Portland playwright Daniel Noel’s piece Longfellow, A Life in Words.
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