The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow朗费罗--海华沙之歌

"Hiawatha's Friends", an illustration byFrederick Remington for the poem, 1889.
Its Style
The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring a Native American hero.
The folklorist Stith Thompson, although crediting Schoolcraft's research with being a "landmark," was quite critical of him: "Unfortunately, the scientific value of his work is marred by the manner in which he has reshaped the stories to fit his own literary taste."
Hiawatha, by Edmonia Lewis, marble, 1868, Newark Museum
The Story of the Poem
The Song presents a legend of Hiawatha and his lover Minnehaha in 22 chapters (and an Introduction). Hiawatha is not introduced until Chapter III. In Chapter I, Hiawatha's arrival is prophesied by a "mighty" peacebringing leader named Gitche Manito.
Hiawatha and Minnehaha sculpture by Jacob Fjelde near Minnehaha Fallsin Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Story of the Poem
Chapter II tells a legend of how the warrior Mudjekeewis became Father of the Four Winds by slaying the Great Bear of the mountains, Mishe-Mokwa. His son Wabun, the East Wind, falls in love with a maiden whom he turns into the Morning Star, Wabun-Annung. Wabun's brother, Kabibonokka, the North Wind, bringer of autumn and winter, attacks Shingebis, "the diver". Shingebis repels him by burning firewood, and then in a wrestling match. A third brother, Shawondasee, the South Wind, falls in love with a dandelion, mistaking it for a golden-haired maiden. Death of Minnehaha by William de Leftwich Dodge, 1885. In Chapter III, in "unremembered ages", a woman named Nokomis falls from the moon. Nokomis gives birth to Wenonah, who grows to be a beautiful young woman. Nokomis warns her not to be seduced by the West Wind (Mudjekeewis) but she does not heed her mother, becomes pregnant and bears Hiawatha. In the ensuing chapters, Hiawatha has childhood adventures, falls in love with Minnehaha, slays the evil magician Pearl-Feather, invents written language, discovers corn and other episodes. Minnehaha dies in a severe winter.
Hiawatha is a fictional character in this poem. There is virtually no connection, apart from name, between Longfellow's hero and Hiawatha.
Minnehaha Feeding Birds, Frances Anne Hopkins, ca. 1880.
Remarks
Much of the scholarship on the Song of Hiawatha in the twentieth century, dating to the 1920s, has concentrated on its lack of fidelity to Ojibwe ethnography and literary genre rather than the poem as a literary work in its own right.
Thanks for Watching
Hiawatha bids 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.
The Song of源自文库Hiawatha
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Song of Hiawatha
Who is Hiawatha? The Story of the Poem Its Style Remarks
Hiawatha—A Hero!
There is a tradition prevalent among Hiawatha is the sixteenththe North century Iroquois chief who American Indians, of a co-founded the Iroquois personage of League. Longfellow took the miraculous birth, who name from works by was sent among them Schoolcraft, which he to clear their rivers, acknowledged as his main forests, and fishingsources. grounds, and to teach them the arts of peace. He was known among different tribes.
John Henry Bufford's cover for "The Death of Minnehaha, 1856.
The Story of the Poem
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" brings word of Jesus Christ. Hiawatha and the chiefs accept the Christian message.
Stellanova Osborn (and previously F. Broilo in German) tracked down "chapter and verse" for every detail Longfellow took from Schoolcraft. Others have identified words from native languages included in the poem.