 The rapidity with which American readers embraced Longfellow was unparalleled in publishing history in the United States ; by 1874 , he was earning $ 3 @,@ 000 per poem . His popularity spread throughout Europe as well and his poetry was translated during his lifetime into Italian , French , German , and other languages . As scholar Bliss Perry later wrote , Longfellow was so highly praised that criticizing him was a criminal act like " carrying a rifle into a national park " . In the last two decades of his life , he often received requests for autographs from strangers , which he always sent . John Greenleaf Whittier suggested it was this massive correspondence that led to Longfellow 's death , writing : " My friend Longfellow was driven to death by these incessant demands " . 
