The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha is an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow based on the legends of the Ojibway Indians. Longfellow credited as his source the work of pioneering ethnographer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, specifically Schoolcraft's Algic Researches and History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States.

Description

Intentionally epic in scope, Longfellow himself described it as "this Indian Edda," and wrote it in the same meter as the Finnish folk-epic, The Kalevala.

Related Topics:
Edda - The Kalevala

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was published on November 10, 1855 and was an immediate success.

Related Topics:
November 10 - 1855

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A short extract of 94 lines from the poem was and still is frequently anthologized under the title Hiawatha's Childhood (which is also the title of the longer 234-line section from which the extract is taken). This short extract is the most familiar portion of the poem. It is this short extract that begins with the famous lines:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:By the shores of Gitche Gumee,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:By the shining Big-Sea-Water,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Dark behind it rose the forest,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Rose the firs with cones upon them;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Bright before it beat the water,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Beat the clear and sunny water,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The poem closes with the approach of a birch canoe to Hiawatha's village, containing "the Priest of Prayer, the Pale-face." Hiawatha welcomes him joyously and the "Black-Robe chief"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Told his message to the people,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Told the purport of his mission,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Told them of the Virgin Mary,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:And her blessed Son, the Saviour.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hiawatha and the chiefs accept their message. Hiawatha bades farewell to Nokomis, the warriors, and the young men, giving them this charge: "But my guests I leave behind me/Listen to their words of wisdom,/Listen to the truth they tell you." Having endorsed the Christian missionaries, he launches his canoe for the last time westward toward the sunset, and departs forever.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~