author
Annie Longfellow Thorp
1852–1931
Remembered as the "laughing Allegra" from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Children’s Hour, she grew up at the heart of a famous literary family and later helped preserve that legacy. Her life connected 19th-century American poetry, family history, and the continuing story of Longfellow House.
1 Audiobook
The lighting of the Christmas tree
by Josephine Ludlow Palmer, Selma Lagerlöf, Annie Longfellow Thorp
About the author
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1855, Anne Allegra "Annie" Longfellow Thorp was the youngest daughter of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. She is closely associated with The Children’s Hour, where her father called her the "laughing Allegra," a nickname that stayed with her for the rest of her life.
She married Joseph Gilbert Thorp Jr. in 1885 and remained deeply involved with the Longfellow family home in Cambridge. National Park Service history notes that she maintained a strong interest in Craigie House, now known as Longfellow House, and helped welcome guests at public events there.
Although she is better known as a figure in the Longfellow family story than as a major author in her own right, her life offers a vivid glimpse into the world around one of America’s best-known poets. She died in 1934, leaving behind an important link to the household, memory, and traditions that surrounded her father’s work.