Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine and studied at Bowdoin College. He then spent time in Europe. He returned and became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, at Harvard College. His first major books of poetry were "Voices of the Night" (1839) and "Ballads and Other Poems" (1841). Longfellow retired from teaching in 1854 to spend more time writing. He lived the rest of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living in George Washington's old headquarters building. His first wife, Mary Potter, died in 1835 after a miscarriage. His second wife, Frances Appleton, died in 1861 after her dress caught fire. Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for a time after she died. He mostly worked on his translation. He died in 1882.