Brunswick, ME … For the 13 consecutive year, a series of arts events inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow will take place in Brunswick during February, the month of the poet’s 1807 birth.  Programs under this year’s theme reflect on Longfellow's beautiful poems about nature, his personal life, and life’s stages in general – for which nature poems are often a metaphor.  During this challenging winter month, free poetry readings, movies, lectures, cozy fires, performances, exhibitions, and community fun can lift people’s spirits, a good distraction from the the weather outside.

Maryli Tiemann and Amy E. Waterman are Co-Chairs for Longfellow Days. They are pleased to draw attention to poems less well-known than they once had been, when Longfellow was an extraordinary literary celebrity; poems like “Snow-Flakes,” “Rain in Summer,” “Autumnal Nightfall,” and others dedicated to specific months of the year. But they are more interested in sharing aspects of Longfellow’s biography: his romances, the children who delighted him, and some traumas and tragedies that befell his family.

The month-long series will feature a talk on Longfellow’s Portland boyhood; a fascinating lecture on 19-century school days; a silent film version of the poet’s tragic romance, Evangeline; a reader’s theater production, with musical accompaniment, that excerpts the romantic correspondence between HWL and his second wife Fanny; family activities at the Pejepscot Historical Society; plentiful poetry readings; and a combination 209 birthday party for Henry and community open mic, featuring Maine’s outgoing Poet Laureate, Wesley McNair, among other perhaps less lauded but also talented writers in the community.

Bowdoin College is participating in a number of ways: The book talk, by Jon Babin of the Maine Historical Society, will take place in Thorne Hall’s Daggett Lounge on Tuesday, February 9 at 7 pm. Assistant Professor of Theater Abigail Killeen leads the reader’s theater production in Moulton Union’s Lancaster Lounge on Friday, February 12 at 7 pm. Professor of Cinema Studies Tricia Welsch will introduce Evangeline in Smith Auditorium, Sills Halls on Saturday, February 13 at 11; and Associate Professor of Education Charles Dorn will talk about 19 century educational practices on Wednesday, February 17 at 12:15. This event, part of the Midcoast Senior College’s Winter Wisdom program, is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. in the Morrell Room at Curtis Memorial Library.

The cozy Fireplace Room at Curtis will be the location for poetry readings on four successive Sundays, from February 7 through February 28, at 1 pm. Twelve local writers will be featured: Jim Donnelly, Rachel Flynn, Carolyn Gelland, Megan Grumbling, Kristen Lindquist, Daniel Mahoney, Robin Merrill, Marita O’Neill, Susann Pelletier, Mark Swiedom, Jeffrey Thomson, Anna Wrobel. Poetry-sharing events will also take place at The Highlands and Thornton Oaks retirement communities, as well as at the Open Mic scheduled to take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brunswick on Saturday, February 27.  Please click here to view the schedule.

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