The Song of Hiawatha: An Epic Poem - Paperback

by G-Ph Ballin (Editor), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Author)

The Song of Hiawatha is an epic poem in free verse by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and is symbolic of American literature of Indian inspiration of the nineteenth century. The poem, which evokes the life of an Indian named Hiawatha, draws its references from the legends and stories of the North American Indian tribes, especially those of the Ojibwa of Northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Algic Researches and History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States by American historian Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, pioneer explorer and ethnographer. He was from 1836 to 1841 responsible for Indian affairs for Michigan. Henry Longfellow began writing the poem on June 25, 1854, finished it on March 29, 1855, and the poem was published on November 10 of the same year. As soon as the poem was released, it became very popular with the public.

Author Biography

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807, Portland, Massachusetts, now Maine - March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American poet, author of many of the poems still famous in the United States, such as The Song of Hiawatha The Song of Hiawatha) or Evangeline. He spent most of his life in Cambridge, near Harvard University. A native of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Longfellow is educated at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He graduated in 1825 and was offered a position as a modern language teacher on the spot. He did not respond immediately, and made a tour of Europe from 1826 to 1829, during which he learned French, Spanish, Portuguese and German. After a discussion on the amount of the salary, he accepted the position of professor at Bowdoin College, to which was added a librarian's session for one hour a day. He married Mary Storer Potter in 1831. She dies a few years later, in 1835, in Rotterdam during a couple journey. Longfellow is appointed Professor at Harvard. He later married Frances "Fanny" Appleton and lived at Craigie House, a mansion overlooking the Charles River. Longfellow is often on foot from his home in Boston, crossing the river via the West Boston Bridge. When it was rebuilt in 1906, the bridge was renamed Longfellow Bridge. Longfellow left his chair at Harvard and retired in 1854 to devote himself entirely to writing. In 1861, Frances died, after accidentally setting fire to his dress. Longfellow is deeply affected. In 1879, he wrote the sonnet The Cross of Snow in honor of his missing wife before dying three years later. Longfellow is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1884 he was the first American poet to have his bust placed in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London.