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Hiawatha, The Song of
Hiawatha, The Song of, narrative poem by Longfellow in unrhymed trochaic tetrameter, published in 1855. Its novel and facile meter has led to many parodies and imitations. The meter derives from the Finnish epic Kalevala, which the poem resembles in spirit as well as in several striking passages. Among its sources of information are the works of Schoolcraft, Heckewelder, and Catlin. It is the subject of a series of Currier and Ives prints and has been set to music.
Hiawatha is reared by his grandmother, Nokomis, daughter of the Moon, among the Ojibway on the southern shore of Lake Superior. He learns the language of the birds and animals, secures magic mittens that will crush rocks and magic moccasins that enable him to take mile‐long strides, and he seeks vengeance on his father, Mudjekeewis, the West Wind, for a wrong committed against his mother, Wenonah. The fight ends in a reconciliation, and Hiawatha returns as the defender and civilizer of his people. Later he defeats Mondamin, the Corn Spirit, from whose buried body springs the maize, after which he builds a birchbark canoe, has a contest with Nahma, the sturgeon, who swallows both canoe and warrior, and destroys Pearl‐Feather, sender of disease and death. The youth then marries Minnehaha, lovely daughter of an arrow‐maker of the once hostile Dakotah. The wedding feast and Song of the Evening Star inaugurate an idyllic time of peace and culture, over which Hiawatha rules until the death of his friends, Chibiabos the musician and Kwasind the strong man. Although he kills Pau‐Puk‐Keewis, who had insulted him, famine and fever visit the people and claim Minnehaha. Golden swarms of bees appear as forerunners of the whites, whose coming Hiawatha prophesied. Telling his people to heed a missionary offering a new religion, he departs for the Isles of the Blest in Keewaydin to rule the kingdom of the Northwest Wind. |
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Hiawatha, The Song of." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Hiawatha, The Song of." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-HiawathaTheSongof.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Hiawatha, The Song of." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-HiawathaTheSongof.html |
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Hiawatha, The Song of
Hiawatha, The Song of, a narrative poem in unrhymed trochaic tetrameter, by Longfellow, published 1855, reproducing American Indian stories which centre on the life and death of Hiawatha. He marries Minnehaha (‘laughing water’), the Dacotah maiden, and after various adventures departs for the Isles of the Blest to rule the kingdom of the North-west Wind. Longfellow took nothing but the name from the historical figure of Hiawatha (fl. c.1570), an Indian statesman, probably a Mohawk.
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Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Hiawatha, The Song of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Hiawatha, The Song of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-HiawathaTheSongof.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Hiawatha, The Song of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-HiawathaTheSongof.html |
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Song of Hiawatha, The
Song of Hiawatha, The, see Hiawatha, The Song of.
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Song of Hiawatha, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Song of Hiawatha, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-SongofHiawathaThe.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Song of Hiawatha, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-SongofHiawathaThe.html |
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