The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

On top of that, critics hated the way that Longfellow tried to write this poem using a meter that was supposed to mimic that of Native American chants and songs. was aggressively expanding to the west and clearing away any Native Americans who stood in its way. For starters, many Americans weren't happy to see Native Americans portrayed in such a sympathetic way. The vocabulary, I believe, was created by Woodrow W.Critics totally panned Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha when it first came out in 1855. This Web version of The Song of Hiawatha was scripted by Steve S.

On a personal note, the feel that you get looking out over Lakes Michigan and Superior, or hiking or canoeing through the national forests in Michigan is very consistent with Longfellow's imagery. Oldfield interrestingly uses Ben Jonson's Hymn to Diana in the fourth movement to maintain a similar theme, rythm, and feel.Īs an additional item on Longfellow's resume of American Indian works, all of the translated Ojibwa Indian songs in the 'Traditional' section of Poets' Corner are adaptations by Longfellow. To truely appreciate the measured sound of it, I recommend listening to Maddy Prior's vocals on the second movement of Mike Oldfield's recording Incantations. The meter he used was based on a Finnish epic poem called the Kalevala. Longfellow spent nearly a year and a half on Hiawatha, finishing in November of 1855. The Ojibway, and northwestern Michigan, would serve most of a century later as the background for Ernest Hemingway's Nick Adams stories (a character who bears several parallels to Hiawatha). Jane was an Ojibway indian whose name translated into english as 'The Woman of the Sound Which the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky'. Henry was a historian, explorer, and geologist who was superintendent of Indian affairs for Michigan from 1836 to 1841. Much of this work was based on The Myth of Hiawatha compiled by Jane and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. One of his most recognizable works is The Song of Hiawatha, based on an accumulation of American Indian stories and legends. Their clarity and seemingly effortless simplicity of his works ingrains them in our memories.

Longfellow's works have been the subject of near endless parody over the years, mainly because they are so easily recognized. The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poets' Corner - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Song of Hiawatha P.C.