 In December 1834 , Longfellow received a letter from Josiah Quincy III , president of Harvard College , offering him the Smith Professorship of Modern Languages with the stipulation that he spend a year or so abroad . There , he further studied German as well as Dutch , Danish , Swedish , Finnish , and Icelandic . In October 1835 , during the trip , his wife Mary had a miscarriage about six months into her pregnancy . She did not recover and died after several weeks of illness at the age of 22 on November 29 , 1835 . Longfellow had her body embalmed immediately and placed in a lead coffin inside an oak coffin which was then shipped to Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston . He was deeply saddened by her death , writing " One thought occupies me night and day ... She is dead — She is dead ! All day I am weary and sad " . Three years later , he was inspired to write the poem " Footsteps of Angels " about her . Several years later , he wrote the poem " Mezzo Cammin , " which expressed his personal struggles in his middle years . 
