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Primary document
Title: Letter from Henry W. Longfellow to James J.
Pettigrew, March 27, 1847: Electronic Edition.
Author: Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882
Editor: Erika Lindemann
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the
electronic publication of this title.
Text transcribed by
Erika Lindemann
Images scanned by
Mara E. Dabrishus
Text encoded by
Amanda Page
First Edition,
2005
Size of electronic edition: ca. 11K
Publisher: The University Library, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2005
© This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and
personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the
text
The electronic edition is a part of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American
South.
Languages used in the text:
English
Revision history:
2005-06-01, Amanda Page finished TEI/XML encoding
Part of a series:
This transcribed document is part of a digital collection, titled True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students in North Carolina
written by Lindemann, Erika
This transcribed document is part of a digital collection, titled True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students in North Carolina
written by Lindemann, Erika
Source(s):
Title of collection: Pettigrew Family Papers (#592), Southern
Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title of document: Letter from Henry W. Longfellow to James J.
Pettigrew, March 27, 1847
Author: Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Description: 4 pages, 5 page images
Note:
Call number 592 (Southern Historical
Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Topics covered:
Education/UNC Curriculum
Reading and Writing/Composition
Writings by Non-Students
Education/UNC Curriculum
Reading and Writing/Composition
Writings by Non-Students
Editorial practices
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Transcript of the personal correspondence. Originals are in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
DocSouth staff created a 600 dpi uncompressed TIFF file for each image. The TIFF images were then saved as JPEG images at 100 dpi for web access.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
Letters, words and passages marked as deleted or added in originals have been encoded accordingly.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see Dr. Erika Lindemann's explanation under the section Editorial Practices.
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Transcript of the personal correspondence. Originals are in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
DocSouth staff created a 600 dpi uncompressed TIFF file for each image. The TIFF images were then saved as JPEG images at 100 dpi for web access.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
Letters, words and passages marked as deleted or added in originals have been encoded accordingly.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see Dr. Erika Lindemann's explanation under the section Editorial Practices.
Document Summary
Longfellow declines Pettigrew's request to write a poem for
commencement, claiming that a student can do it better because he knows the
graduates personally.
Page 1
Cambridge
March 27
1847
1847
Dear Sir,
Accept my best thanks for the kindness both expressed and implied
in your note of the 21st. It would give me much pleasure to
attend your Commencement and to furnish the poem you suggest; but I fear
Page 2
that both will be impossible. Such a poem, to be
good, must be written from the heart and not from the imagination, and
consequently must be written by some one personally acquainted with the class.
One of yourselves, therefore, would do it much better than I should; for he
could
Page 3
fill his poem with little personal
allusions, which would make it effective and beautiful; whereas the stranger
could speak only in general terms, and his song would suit all similar
occasions quite as well as that for which it was ostensibly written
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
On this account I feel constrained, though reluctantly, to decline
your request; while at the same time I thank you for the consideration and
regard which have prompted it.
Very truly yours
Henry W Longfellow
Envelope page
Endnotes:
1. Pettigrew Family Papers, SHC.
Longfellow's letter was mailed in an envelope addressed to
"Mr J. J. Pettigrew
/
University of North/Carolina./
Chapel
Hill." The following endorsement appears in a second hand to the
left of the address, written along the left edge: "From
H. W. Longfellow./Dated. 27th March
1847,/Declining to write a poem." The envelope bears a postmark in red ink
that is too faint to read. The letter has previously been published in
Longfellow 3:133-34. Why
Pettigrew
wrote to
Longfellow is unclear. The 1847 Commencement was notable
because
President James Knox Polk
attended.
Pettigrew
, the class valedictorian, may
have written to
Longfellow on behalf of the graduating seniors as part of
a plan for the elaborate ceremonies in anticipation of
the
President's
visit. Though
Gov.
Swain
did not extend his invitation to
President Polk
until April 24, 1847 (Swain Papers, SHC),
North
Carolina
Gov. William A. Graham
wrote a long letter to
Swain
on March 27, 1847, detailing plans for
the
President's
reception. Thus, planning for the visit, including perhaps
Pettigrew's
invitation to
Longfellow, may have been in progress a month before
the
President
agreed to attend.
/
University of North/Carolina./
Chapel
Hill." The following endorsement appears in a second hand to the
left of the address, written along the left edge: "From
H. W. Longfellow./Dated. 27th March
1847,/Declining to write a poem." The envelope bears a postmark in red ink
that is too faint to read. The letter has previously been published in
Longfellow 3:133-34. Why
Pettigrew
wrote to
Longfellow is unclear. The 1847 Commencement was notable
because
President James Knox Polk
attended.
Pettigrew
, the class valedictorian, may
have written to
Longfellow on behalf of the graduating seniors as part of
a plan for the elaborate ceremonies in anticipation of
the
President's
visit. Though
Gov.
Swain
did not extend his invitation to
President Polk
until April 24, 1847 (Swain Papers, SHC),
North
Carolina
Gov. William A. Graham
wrote a long letter to
Swain
on March 27, 1847, detailing plans for
the
President's
reception. Thus, planning for the visit, including perhaps
Pettigrew's
invitation to
Longfellow, may have been in progress a month before
the
President
agreed to attend. 
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Last updated November 16, 2006