The Song of Hiawatha and Other Poems

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Frederic Remington (Illustrator), Howard Chandler Christy (Illustrator)

Native American writings, or poems, depicting great American Indian epics. It is based on Native American stories and legends. The contents contain "The Song of Hiawatha"; "Evangeline"; and "The Courtship of Miles Standish"; then starts (from page 265) the shorter poems. These span the book until the last of which is named "The Cross of Snow" on page 342. Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

An extremely popular American poet in his own lifetime, Longfellow's best-known works include The Song of Hiawatha (1855), a translation of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, done in 1864-67, Paul Revere's Ride and Evangeline. He's one of the New England poets now typically referred to as the Fireside Poets.

Longfellow graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, and after studying in Europe for several years subsequently became Bowdoin's professor of modern languages and librarian. After further study in Europe, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to become professor of modern languages at Harvard in 1836. Meanwhile, Mary Potter Longfellow, his first wife, had died in 1835, following a miscarriage.

His first published collections of poetry were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). In 1854, he retired from teaching to focus on his writing. His second wife, Frances Appleton Longfellow, died in 1861 of burns sustained when her dress caught fire. After her death, for some time Longfellow had difficulty writing original poetry, and focused on translations from foreign languages.

Longfellow wrote lyric poetry noted for its musicality, and often presented stories of mythology and legend. He frequently imitated European poetic styles (and his work was popular in Europe in his day, as well as in the U.S.). As a Romantic poet, he seeks primarily to express and to evoke emotion in his poetry.

Reviews

[Jerome Berglund · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, or the Dakotas you really, really, really, really should read this book as soon as you can. I'm telling ya, trust me. Not only is it one of the best things I've ever happened upon, but it's deeply rooted in our local history and contains some regional origin stories and creation myths which provide keys to doors I had no idea existed. Not to give you outlandish expectations, but as a rather hyped volume I can only report was anything but disappointed. <3

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cadence, the imagery, the story. The Song of Hiawatha is beautiful. I never imagined that a 164 page poem could be so captivating. The other poems are far shorter but are equally heartfelt and well crafted. Listening to Mike Oldfields 'Incantations' album 30 years ago taught me the cadence. The book came with a biography of Longfellow which added to experience. A damn fine read.

[Danh · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoy poetry alot and this book of poetry was no letdown!

[Viktorian Flint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Due stelle e mezzo.

Un pó impreciso il giudizio sul fatto che Longfellow scrivesse con intenti denigratori. Non un grande storico ma sicuramente un appassionato. Non ci sono delle specifiche tracce che lasciano intendere che sia un'opera volta a sminuire un popolo ma c'è da dire che "The Song of Hiawatha" non è un prodotto riuscito.
L'esecuzione è semplificata, nonostante i grandi intenti di ripercorrere le strade battute dalla grande epica il risultato ottenuto è quasi scolastico. Solo in alcuni punti il poema di innalza; nelle scene di morte e in quelle di mitologia, senza sfiorare un particolare talento ma senza neanche nascondere una certa cura.
L'autore non era il solito bianco che scrive di un luogo o di un popolo che non gli appartiene, la sua passione per la cultura era certamente smisurata; il suo unico peccato è stato quello di non essere in grado di tradurre quell'amore in arte.
Un'altra volta, magari.
Consiglio un'edizione ben dettagliata e con adeguate note, per accrescere un po' il vocabolario.

[Roger Burk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard of many of these poems since childhood, and encountered some spoofs of them, but never actually read them. So Longfellow is actually a pretty good poet, though with the sentimental and moralistic taste of his time. I fear readily understandable verse, especially long narrative poetry, has gone completely out of style, but I enjoyed it. Some famous favorites:

The Song of Hiawatha: The exploits of an Ojibway culture hero (with the name of a legendary Iroquois) who conveys the teaching of the great Manito and shows his people how to live in peace, until the white men come and he paddles off into the sunset.

Evangeline: A bit sappy towards the end, but opens with an evocative account of idyllic Acadia.

The Courtship of Miles Standish: Again a vivid opening section, contrasting the friends John Alden (quiet, thoughtful) and Miles Standish (rough, soldierly), then more sentimental.

The Village Blacksmith

Paul Revere's Ride

[Essie-Marie F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Just wow. Longfellow is a master poet. Hiawatha is a work of genius and is one of the most accurate pictures of the Indians in literature. Evangeline is heartbreaking, The Courtship of Miles Standish is enticing. The shorter poems are works of art and will speak to your soul.

[Nicholle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to bash classics, because I understand they became and stayed popular in a time that isn't now. However, the sing-songyness of this made it nearly impossible for me to focus on the content (or put me to sleep).
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2020 Extreme Book Nerd Challenge - Book written in 1800s

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome! I had tried to read this once as a child and couldn’t take the rhyming. But this time it spoke to me and pulled me on into the poem. I can see why people loved it!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poet whose time has largely passed--for better or worse--Longfellow's poetry collection is good, but hardly essential reading for our time.

[Rich DeMartin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a big poetry fan. It was a struggle to get through.

[Regena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this man! What a pleasure to lose myself in the worlds of his creation….

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning. Well worth the read. But some of the shorter poems have a preoccupation with death, and they're a bit hard to process.

[James Pike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sought out this book as research for a concert I was performing. Since I am not an avid poetry reader I read the entire volume in hopes I would gain a greater appreciation of the art. I found some of the entries intriguing and others left me unaffected. Overall though, I believe this to be a good primer on Longfellow's prose.

[Ken Bickley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book that has languished on our shelves here for years, so I finally decided to give it a chance. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it immensely. I am not well versed in poetry (pun intended), but I had vague memories of being forced to read "Evangeline" in school (when I thought great poetry was anything Ahmet Ertegun wrote for The Clovers to record for his new
Atlantic Records label - check the old labels and you'll see "A. Nugetre" as the writer of many songs), but I had not delved deeply into Longfellow in many years. Some people in a better position than I to judge consider him America's greatest poet, and I would not disagree with that. Lines such as "This is the forest primeval" and "Speak for yourself, John" have become embedded in our thoughts and language. "Hiawatha", "Evangeline" and "Miles Standish" are what used to be called blank verse; they don't rhyme, and so they can be hard to read. But, to me at least, it was well worth the effort.

[J. Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty and simplicity of the poetry transported me back in time to my youth in high school. Today, I can appreciate this book in a way not possible years ago. The imagery, the magic, the song of the words and the drawings bring a joy and wonder of another time. Longfellow conjured up what had become mythologized; while, today, he is dated, his writing and style and material is still rewarding.

[Izzie Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed his poetry before it got a little preachy.
I loved Hiawatha, it was brilliant. Some of it was too godly. I like my works ungodly.
Very much worth the read for his stuff though… he is really good andy enjoy his poetry immensely.

[Sarah Yasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

this edition has no line numbers, but it does separate stanza breaks by indenting margins which makes it a bit easier for group discussions.