Longfellow is back in town this weekend?at least in spirit.
The town of Brunswick and Bowdoin are celebrating poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow this weekend in a series of events titled, "Longfellow Days: a Celebration of Community." The events, spanning from yesterday to Sunday, include lectures, a period dinner, concerts, poetry readings, and horse and buggy rides, among others.
Organizer Maryli Tiemann said the idea for the event came from a conversation with a friend about the Brunswick community and its interaction with the College.
"We wanted to have a shared celebration of our shared heritage," Tiemann said. "Longfellow is a great means to a shared celebration because of his connections." Longfellow, who graduated in 1825 along with Bowdoin's other illustrious literary alum, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was Bowdoin's first professor of modern languages. He went on to teach at Harvard University. He lived in Brunswick with his wife, Mary, in what is now the Joshua Chamberlain House.
Tours of the home will be given for free from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Longfellow Days also coincides with the 150th anniversary of "Hiawatha," one of Longfellow's most famous poems. Saturday will feature the "Hiawatha Celebration." The celebration will include performances by a chamber choir composed of Bowdoin students and Brunswick residents, and will be hosted by Layne Longfellow.
In addition to celebrating Longfellow as a distinguished poet and his contributions to the Brunswick community, Tiemann says that Longfellow Days is also a "way of celebrating poetry and the way of life in the 19th century." Longfellow Days sponsored poets-in-residence at Brunswick's elementary schools from February 14 to 18. Tiemann feels that Brunswick students should "become familiar with Longfellow, and learn to appreciate his poetry, especially because it has been shoved onto the backburner of education with the emergence of more modern poets."
Several events during the weekend celebration will exhibit the 19th century way of life. The Longfellow Dinner Thursday night featured some of Longfellow's favorite dishes, along with period-appropriate wine and poetry readings. The dinner cost $50 per person, but was one of the few events that charged admission.
Almost all other events are free to the public or accept donations. Tonight the Music Department is sponsoring a concert with cellist Myles Jordan and pianist Martin Perry at 7:30 p.m. at First Parish Church. Nineteenth century works by Mendelssohn, Chopin and Brahms will be played on period instruments.
Tomorrow there will be poetry readings in Curtis Memorial Library's Fireplace Room between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The Pejepscot Historical Society is sponsoring a silhouette artist to do $15 portraits for ten-minute sittings at the Historical Society building on Park Row from noon to 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
"Let's Look at Longfellow's 'Hiawatha'" is showing at 2:00 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium and will feature performances by The Ballet School, a chamber choir comprising Bowdoin College students and community members, student musicians, animator Kevin Tacka, Longfellow actor Don Lipfert, and host Layne Longfellow.
On Sunday, there will be two worship services. The Universalist Church on Pleasant Street will hold a 10 a.m. service with Reverend Brad Mitchell, featuring music, poetry readings, and reflections on Longfellow's life and religion. At the Bowdoin Chapel, Reverand Thomas Mikelson of First Church in Harvard Square, Longfellow's home church, will be preaching a 19th-century chapel service, historically and theologically based on Longfellow's beliefs.
This is the first time an event such as Longfellow Days has taken place in Brunswick, but the goal is to make it an annual event, and to hold a much larger celebration in 2007, which marks Longfellow's 200th birthday.
Tiemann first enlisted the help of Associate Director of Donor Relations Peggy Schick in posting flyers around Bowdoin's campus to stir-up interest. Tiemann said that Bowdoin students and other community members responded to a great degree, and that "there has been great participation, in ideas, energy, and time."
"The dream come true," Tiemann said, "would be if Bowdoin students actually came to the events, and celebrated with the Brunswick community because it's our shared heritage." A schedule and information about the various events can be found on the Bowdoin web site. (See related links above.)
-Staff Writer Lisa Peterson contributed to this report.