Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator who lived from 1807 to 1882. He was born in Portland, Maine and is known for his original poems such as 'Paul Revere's Ride', 'The Song of Hiawatha', and 'Evangeline'. Longfellow was also the first American to fully translate Dante Alighieri's 'Divine Comedy' into English. He was part of the group of New England poets known as the 'fireside poets', known for their popular and well-crafted poems.