Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born February 27, 1807 and died on March 24, 1882.  He was born in Portland, Maine (when is was still part of Massachusetts).  He studied at Bowdoin College in Maine.  He later became a professor at Harvard.  In 1831 he married Mary Storer Potter or Portland, a former classmate.  She died 4 years later to a misscarriage [1].  Later he married Frances Appleton.  Two of his two main poetry collections are: Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841).  He retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing. 

      [1] "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." Academy of Poets. 2007. Poets.org 17 November 2009. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/143

          John Greenlead Whittier was born on December 17, 1807 and died on September 7, 1892.  John was an influentioal Quaker poet who was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns.  He was an ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.  His key works included: Legends of New England, 1831; Lays of My Home, 1843; "Massachusetts to Virginia" in Voices of Freedom, 1846; Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal, 1849; and Songs of Labor and Other Poems, 1850; Snow-Bound, 1866 [2].

   [2] "Chapter 4: John Greenleaf Whittier."  PA: Perspective in American Literature. 2009.  Csustan. 17 November 2009. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/whittier.html

         William Cullen Bryant was born on November 3, 1794 and died on June 12, 1878.  He was born in a log cabin in Cummington Massachusetts.  He studied at Williams College and later when to study law at Worthington and Bridgewater in Massachusetts.  He began to love poetry at an early age.  Towards the end of his career he started to translate writings from the author Homer.  Some of his most famous poems are "The Artic Lover,"  "The Future Life," "June," "The Murdered Traveller," "Mutation," "Songs of Marion's Men," and "Thanatopsis. [3]"

     [3] "Poetry by William Cullen Bryant." Poetry Archive. 2002. Poetry Archive. 17 November 2009. http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/bryant_william_cullen.html

        James Russell Lowell was born on February 22, 1819 and died on August 12, 1891.  He graduated from Harvard in 1838.  He married Maria White.  He and his wife became part of the slave abolition  movement.  After Maria died he travled to Europe and married Frances Dunlap in 1857.  Some of James Russell Lowell's popular poetry consists of "Auspex," "May is a Pious Frad," "My Love," "She Came and Went," and "War [4]."

    [4]  "Poetry by James Russell Lowell."  Poetry Archive. 2002. Poetry Archive. 17 November 2009.  http://www.poetry-archive.com/l/lowell_james_russell.html

      Oliver Wendell Holmes was born on March 8, 1841 and died on March 6, 1935.  After the Civil War, Holmes went back to Harvard to study law.  Holmes was an American jurist from 1902 to 1932.  He was also an assocaite justice for the Sumpreme Court for the United States of America.  His important works include: "Ballad of the Oysterman," "The Broken Circle," "The Champered Nautilus," "The Departed Days," "The Dilemma," "Mare Rubrum," "Old Ironsides," "Our Indian Summer," and "The Two Streams."