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Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's classic poem Evangeline follows the odyssey of a people―the Acadians, forceably deported from Nova Scotia in 1755―and immortalizes Acadia as the Land of Evangeline. This is the haunting love story of Evangeline and Gabriel, devoted from childhood, who are separated during the expulsion of the Acadians from Grand-Pré and their lifelong search for one another. First published in 1847, this epic poem has touched the hearts of all who have read it with its serene and melancholy beauty and is as popular today as it was then. With both colour and black and white illustrations, drawn from previous editions, and an informative introduction by Bruce Fergusson, this collector's edition of Evangeline will charm and delight both those familiar with the poem and those who have discovered it for the first time.
126 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1847
About the author
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
2,584 books684 followersHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and "Evangeline". He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy and was one of the five members of the group known as the Fireside Poets.
Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, and studied at Bowdoin College. After spending time in Europe he became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, at Harvard College. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1842). Longfellow retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing, though he lived the remainder of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a former headquarters of George Washington.
Longfellow predominantly wrote lyric poetry, known for its musicality, which often presented stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.
Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, and studied at Bowdoin College. After spending time in Europe he became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, at Harvard College. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1842). Longfellow retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing, though he lived the remainder of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a former headquarters of George Washington.
Longfellow predominantly wrote lyric poetry, known for its musicality, which often presented stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 304 reviews
December 14, 2015
I have somewhat jumbled thoughts about this lovely prose poem that tells the story of a fictional young woman named Evangeline Bellefontaine, who began her life in Acadia, what is now Nova Scotia. I had no idea of the history of this area. This is from the introduction:
At the close of what is known as Queen Anne's war, in 1713, France ceded Acadia to the English, and it has since remained in their possession. Some thirty-five years passed before an English settlement was made at Halifax, the Acadians in the meantime remaining in undisturbed possession of the country. Soon after the settlement of Halifax trouble began between the rival colonists.
Whatever the reasons were for their decision (and the details seem to be debated even today) the British rounded up all the French Acadians and forced them into exile, burning their village to boot. Our Evangeline was newly betrothed to Gabriel Lajeunesse, but because the tide went out during the evacuation she had to stay on the beach with her father while Gabriel and his father were put on a ship. So the lovers were separated, and the rest of the poem follows the wanderings of Evangeline while she searches for Gabriel, whom she has never forgotten and will always love.
Here is where my jumbled thoughts really start. On the surface, Evangeline is a loyal young woman, who wants only to be reunited with her true love Gabriel. So she goes off searching for him, and we think she will find him a time or two, but he is always a week or so ahead of her. She is impulsive, rushing off to the north country when she hears a rumor that he has a hunter's lodge in Michigan, instead of waiting longer at the mission where she had already spent over a year in hopes he would return. But of course when she arrives the lodge is empty and she continues her wanderings.
It was not until I finished reading that I realized the other layer involved here. Our loyal Evangeline represents all of the exiles, and her search for Gabriel is really an exile's longing for their former home. When a person is forced away from a place, that place becomes sacred to them. Looking at Evangeline herself as simply a woman, I was mad at her for spending her entire life running obsessively after a ghost of a memory. But looking at her as the symbol of the French Acadian people who were torn from their homes and thrown out into the cruel world to sink or swim however they could, I was able to understand that obsessed desire to reclaim the past. I still do not necessarily admire it, however. It is not possible or healthy to go back in time, to recreate what once was. Remember the magic, yes. Become obsessed over it, no.
I dawdled a bit while reading, as usual with poetry, because I kept savoring the prelude, which begins with these noble lines:
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
I had avoided Longfellow since school days, remembering the torture of being forced to read him when I was interested in so many other things. But I was pleasantly surprised at the loveliness of this poem, and how easy it was to read. I certainly will be reading more of his work, and hopefully more about the history of Nova Scotia and Canada as well.
At the close of what is known as Queen Anne's war, in 1713, France ceded Acadia to the English, and it has since remained in their possession. Some thirty-five years passed before an English settlement was made at Halifax, the Acadians in the meantime remaining in undisturbed possession of the country. Soon after the settlement of Halifax trouble began between the rival colonists.
Whatever the reasons were for their decision (and the details seem to be debated even today) the British rounded up all the French Acadians and forced them into exile, burning their village to boot. Our Evangeline was newly betrothed to Gabriel Lajeunesse, but because the tide went out during the evacuation she had to stay on the beach with her father while Gabriel and his father were put on a ship. So the lovers were separated, and the rest of the poem follows the wanderings of Evangeline while she searches for Gabriel, whom she has never forgotten and will always love.
Here is where my jumbled thoughts really start. On the surface, Evangeline is a loyal young woman, who wants only to be reunited with her true love Gabriel. So she goes off searching for him, and we think she will find him a time or two, but he is always a week or so ahead of her. She is impulsive, rushing off to the north country when she hears a rumor that he has a hunter's lodge in Michigan, instead of waiting longer at the mission where she had already spent over a year in hopes he would return. But of course when she arrives the lodge is empty and she continues her wanderings.
It was not until I finished reading that I realized the other layer involved here. Our loyal Evangeline represents all of the exiles, and her search for Gabriel is really an exile's longing for their former home. When a person is forced away from a place, that place becomes sacred to them. Looking at Evangeline herself as simply a woman, I was mad at her for spending her entire life running obsessively after a ghost of a memory. But looking at her as the symbol of the French Acadian people who were torn from their homes and thrown out into the cruel world to sink or swim however they could, I was able to understand that obsessed desire to reclaim the past. I still do not necessarily admire it, however. It is not possible or healthy to go back in time, to recreate what once was. Remember the magic, yes. Become obsessed over it, no.
I dawdled a bit while reading, as usual with poetry, because I kept savoring the prelude, which begins with these noble lines:
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
I had avoided Longfellow since school days, remembering the torture of being forced to read him when I was interested in so many other things. But I was pleasantly surprised at the loveliness of this poem, and how easy it was to read. I certainly will be reading more of his work, and hopefully more about the history of Nova Scotia and Canada as well.
March 14, 2017
It is amazing that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow could put so much into a 52 page poem. There is the love story, of course, and the themes of devotion and persistence, but there is also faith, forgiveness, the cruelties of war, injustice, extreme loss, strength of character, and reclamation.
The descriptive quality of his poetry is mesmerizing. I felt I could see the Acadian village, the Louisiana bayou and the western mountains. Does this not describe the spread of an epidemic perfectly:
And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September,
Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow,
So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural margin,
Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence.
You can both feel the spreading of the disease and in an eerie way, see it.
I read this once, long ago, when I was a girl. Then it was just the love story that I came away with. It was like reading Romeo and Juliet as a teenager. This time, I left the poem with so much more!
The descriptive quality of his poetry is mesmerizing. I felt I could see the Acadian village, the Louisiana bayou and the western mountains. Does this not describe the spread of an epidemic perfectly:
And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September,
Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow,
So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural margin,
Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence.
You can both feel the spreading of the disease and in an eerie way, see it.
I read this once, long ago, when I was a girl. Then it was just the love story that I came away with. It was like reading Romeo and Juliet as a teenager. This time, I left the poem with so much more!
October 20, 2023
When I had my first encounter with Longfellow's long poetry a couple of years ago (what I'd previously read from his pen were just short selections found in American Literature textbooks), through The Song of Hiawatha, I was underwhelmed, and gave it only two stars. However, that was mainly because I thought it didn't succeed well as an epic. His technical mastery of the poetic craft was impressive, and I wanted to give his long verse another chance. Now I've done so, and found (as my rating for this demonstrates) that the persistence was amply rewarded!
Given that fiction is my favorite literary form, it's not surprising that poems which tell stories tend to have a special appeal to me. This is a stellar example of the type, and based on a story of parted lovers that Longfellow was told by his friend Hawthorne, who'd heard it in turn from Boston clergyman Rev. Horace Conolly as a tale related by some of his parishioners. In Longfellow's re-telling, though, the poet did not intend to present the story as factual history about two real people; the main characters are fictional creations. (Attempts have been made to identify the particular couple behind the original story, but there isn't really any solid documentation for any of these.) But the historical background behind the story is very real, and the real-life circumstances such that separations of couples might very well have occurred. (For more details on the expulsion of the Acadians from their homes, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsi... .
Longfellow was a poet of the Romantic school, and there's definitely a strong appeal here to the reader's emotions. These include emotions of sorrow, pity, indignation, and even anger; Romantic writers were (and are) often drawn to tragic situations, and readers should be warned that this is not a particularly happy story. (I won't include spoilers, although many readers with a broad knowledge of American literature may already know the general plot.) But there is a type of tragedy which contains in itself a kind of inner triumph that transmutes it, just as the mythical philosopher's stone transmuted base metal into gold; and this is tragedy of that sort. This is also a profoundly Christian work, not just because of the author's occasional biblical imagery or because of the explicit references to faith (our Acadian characters are Roman Catholics, and a priest is an important secondary character), but because of the strong themes of Christian love even for enemies, which mandates forgiveness for wrongs suffered, and of patient endurance through suffering, in the trust that all things are ordered by God's providence for our ultimate good.
Despite his Romanticism, however, here Longfellow uses a classic style of unrhymed, or "blank," verse in hexameter format (that is, consisting of long lines each of six "feet," the feet being particular combinations of accented and unaccented syllables), based on Greek and Roman models, which the Neoclassicists would have fully appreciated. (The Notes in the edition I read, which is an older though undated Grosset and Dunlap printing, explain this in more detail.) Due to the exigencies of the English language, as opposed to Greek and Latin, there are apparently a few places where the accenting doesn't perfectly fit the model; but it certainly comes very close, and the overall effect is absolutely a credit to the author's technical skill as a poet. His diction is serious, stately, and carries the reader along on a current where his/her feelings are engaged and shaped in the way that Longfellow wants. Overall, it evokes a mood of melancholy solemnity. Read aloud, it would have a cadence to it that would probably be something like music, reminding one of Sidney Lanier's theory of the close relationship between poetry and music.
Mention should also be made of the poet's attention to describing, and evoking real appreciation for, the beauty of the natural world, in a variety of geographical settings. Published as it was in 1847, in an era of intense anti-Catholic agitation by the Know-Nothings and their ilk (and even, in Philadelphia in 1844, religious rioting and burnings of Catholic churches), Longfellow's sympathetic treatment of the faith of his Catholic characters, and implicit acceptance of them as fellow Christians, is also worth noting. He's been accused of over-simplifying the background of the expulsion, and some readers might find his picture of the Acadians' harmonious and equalitarian life on the eve of the tragedy too idyllic. I was initially of that opinion myself; but in fact Edouard Richard in his History of Acadia verifies the accuracy of that picture, and it turns out that Longfellow himself actually researched the factual background quite extensively. Finally, some reviewers feel that Evangeline's and Gabriel's continued devotion to each other after their separation was impractical. We can freely concede that it was; but Longfellow's message is that faithful love has a value that isn't measured by the "practical." (To avoid spoilers, I won't elaborate on the point.)
Note: the Notes in this edition cover a bit over ten pages, and provide helpful information on the historical background, style, biblical and classical allusions, descriptions of the many plants referred to, definitions of unfamiliar words, etc. They're not true footnotes, however, because they're not numbered and have nothing pointing to them in the text itself. That reduces their usefulness some, but only marginally. Also, the 145-page length of the actual text is deceptive. The margins are wide, the print is decent-sized, and there are many excellent black-and-white illustrations drawn by John Gilbert and Frank Dicksee included on the pages (along with some full page black-and-white plates, though those aren't counted in the pagination). The book is a quick read (I finished the text itself in three days).
Given that fiction is my favorite literary form, it's not surprising that poems which tell stories tend to have a special appeal to me. This is a stellar example of the type, and based on a story of parted lovers that Longfellow was told by his friend Hawthorne, who'd heard it in turn from Boston clergyman Rev. Horace Conolly as a tale related by some of his parishioners. In Longfellow's re-telling, though, the poet did not intend to present the story as factual history about two real people; the main characters are fictional creations. (Attempts have been made to identify the particular couple behind the original story, but there isn't really any solid documentation for any of these.) But the historical background behind the story is very real, and the real-life circumstances such that separations of couples might very well have occurred. (For more details on the expulsion of the Acadians from their homes, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsi... .
Longfellow was a poet of the Romantic school, and there's definitely a strong appeal here to the reader's emotions. These include emotions of sorrow, pity, indignation, and even anger; Romantic writers were (and are) often drawn to tragic situations, and readers should be warned that this is not a particularly happy story. (I won't include spoilers, although many readers with a broad knowledge of American literature may already know the general plot.) But there is a type of tragedy which contains in itself a kind of inner triumph that transmutes it, just as the mythical philosopher's stone transmuted base metal into gold; and this is tragedy of that sort. This is also a profoundly Christian work, not just because of the author's occasional biblical imagery or because of the explicit references to faith (our Acadian characters are Roman Catholics, and a priest is an important secondary character), but because of the strong themes of Christian love even for enemies, which mandates forgiveness for wrongs suffered, and of patient endurance through suffering, in the trust that all things are ordered by God's providence for our ultimate good.
Despite his Romanticism, however, here Longfellow uses a classic style of unrhymed, or "blank," verse in hexameter format (that is, consisting of long lines each of six "feet," the feet being particular combinations of accented and unaccented syllables), based on Greek and Roman models, which the Neoclassicists would have fully appreciated. (The Notes in the edition I read, which is an older though undated Grosset and Dunlap printing, explain this in more detail.) Due to the exigencies of the English language, as opposed to Greek and Latin, there are apparently a few places where the accenting doesn't perfectly fit the model; but it certainly comes very close, and the overall effect is absolutely a credit to the author's technical skill as a poet. His diction is serious, stately, and carries the reader along on a current where his/her feelings are engaged and shaped in the way that Longfellow wants. Overall, it evokes a mood of melancholy solemnity. Read aloud, it would have a cadence to it that would probably be something like music, reminding one of Sidney Lanier's theory of the close relationship between poetry and music.
Mention should also be made of the poet's attention to describing, and evoking real appreciation for, the beauty of the natural world, in a variety of geographical settings. Published as it was in 1847, in an era of intense anti-Catholic agitation by the Know-Nothings and their ilk (and even, in Philadelphia in 1844, religious rioting and burnings of Catholic churches), Longfellow's sympathetic treatment of the faith of his Catholic characters, and implicit acceptance of them as fellow Christians, is also worth noting. He's been accused of over-simplifying the background of the expulsion, and some readers might find his picture of the Acadians' harmonious and equalitarian life on the eve of the tragedy too idyllic. I was initially of that opinion myself; but in fact Edouard Richard in his History of Acadia verifies the accuracy of that picture, and it turns out that Longfellow himself actually researched the factual background quite extensively. Finally, some reviewers feel that Evangeline's and Gabriel's continued devotion to each other after their separation was impractical. We can freely concede that it was; but Longfellow's message is that faithful love has a value that isn't measured by the "practical." (To avoid spoilers, I won't elaborate on the point.)
Note: the Notes in this edition cover a bit over ten pages, and provide helpful information on the historical background, style, biblical and classical allusions, descriptions of the many plants referred to, definitions of unfamiliar words, etc. They're not true footnotes, however, because they're not numbered and have nothing pointing to them in the text itself. That reduces their usefulness some, but only marginally. Also, the 145-page length of the actual text is deceptive. The margins are wide, the print is decent-sized, and there are many excellent black-and-white illustrations drawn by John Gilbert and Frank Dicksee included on the pages (along with some full page black-and-white plates, though those aren't counted in the pagination). The book is a quick read (I finished the text itself in three days).
August 30, 2019
It's been more years than I wish to count since I first read this. (Probably since I was a Girl Scout visiting the Evangeline statue in St Martinville, Louisiana, with my troop.) While in Maine (across the bay from Nova Scotia) recently, I felt the urge to read it again. I'm glad I did. It's much easier to read than I remember (I'm sure that's because I was so young when I did) and besides being a satisfying story of undying, tragic love; it's full of wonderful descriptions of several vastly different areas of North America, including my home state of Louisiana before it was Louisiana.
September 24, 2015
I was amazed by how touching this historical epic poem was.
As I began to read it, I was fascinated with even the simplest ideas in the book. Longfellow has a nice way of describing every little thing so eloquently and in such precise details.
"Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, where plumelike cotton trees nodded their shadowy crests, they swept with the current,
Then emerged into road lagoons..."
"Nodded their shadowy crests" is definitely my favorite line from this verse. It has such imagery! And I can't forget to mention how heartbreaking yet beautiful the loyalty and love of Evangeline and Gabriel was.
Though their homes burned, and their love separated, it did not cease to exist- despite these hardships! For though love was resting, for it was parted, love was not dead.
Beautiful story! I would recommend to anyone who is interested in the History of Acadie, elaborate writing language, and poetry that convinces truth and image.
November 6, 2021
During the French & Indian War of the 18th-Century, the British forces decided they couldn’t trust the French settlers of the Canadian Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island) because of their pro-France support. Without warning, the Brits destroyed the towns and villages of the French Acadian people, expelling them and setting fire to their property and killing their livestock. The settlers were forcibly put on ships and sent away, mostly to the American colonies. It was a horrendous event. Of the 14,000 Acadians, more than 11,000 ended up exiled. Today, the Cajuns of Louisiana are the descendants of those exiled Acadians, a pocket of France in the United States.
Until Longfellow wrote this epic poem in the 19th-century, few people knew about the Great Acadian Expulsion. It became the most famous work of the American poet and is also considered the first great American long poem. Longfellow introduces us to the Acadians and their homes, as they go about their daily work. The words are comforting, letting us know these are simple people, focused on their farms and families.
They dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers –
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were they free from
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics.
Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows;
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners;
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance.
But then the BLOODY BRITS arrive and stun the peaceful settlers. We follow the heroine of the poem, a young maiden named Evangeline, who was due to marry her beau before they were exiled. But the two lovers are separated, which means she spends the rest of her days searching for him. It’s a mournful work, although some exiles successfully adapt in the Louisiana bayous. Evangeline is stalwart, determined to find her man. Such is the life of the refugee.
Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from its shadow,
Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.
Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard,
In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and unnoticed.
I really enjoyed this poem and the way it unfolds. To me, it didn’t seem to be a poem, that’s how involved I became with the adventure. Longfellow always seems sad to me, but his descriptions of nature and his admiration of the exiles kept me going. I can understand why it’s a great American masterpiece of verse. Plus, I am biased. My family has Acadian blood, and I am still waiting for my reparations to be paid, by either the Canadians or the BLOODY BRITS. There.
Book Season = Autumn (wail of the forest)
Until Longfellow wrote this epic poem in the 19th-century, few people knew about the Great Acadian Expulsion. It became the most famous work of the American poet and is also considered the first great American long poem. Longfellow introduces us to the Acadians and their homes, as they go about their daily work. The words are comforting, letting us know these are simple people, focused on their farms and families.
They dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers –
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were they free from
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics.
Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows;
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners;
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance.
But then the BLOODY BRITS arrive and stun the peaceful settlers. We follow the heroine of the poem, a young maiden named Evangeline, who was due to marry her beau before they were exiled. But the two lovers are separated, which means she spends the rest of her days searching for him. It’s a mournful work, although some exiles successfully adapt in the Louisiana bayous. Evangeline is stalwart, determined to find her man. Such is the life of the refugee.
Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from its shadow,
Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.
Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard,
In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and unnoticed.
I really enjoyed this poem and the way it unfolds. To me, it didn’t seem to be a poem, that’s how involved I became with the adventure. Longfellow always seems sad to me, but his descriptions of nature and his admiration of the exiles kept me going. I can understand why it’s a great American masterpiece of verse. Plus, I am biased. My family has Acadian blood, and I am still waiting for my reparations to be paid, by either the Canadians or the BLOODY BRITS. There.
Book Season = Autumn (wail of the forest)
March 12, 2015
This is the Acadian Expulsion given the Titanic treatment: terrible thing + love story.
After many pages painting Acadia as the most perfect, pure, and beautiful place, the English arrive. It's a pretty jarring and entertaining tone shift. Shit gets real pretty quick. The language is a bit flowery which softens the action but it is truly a violent scene. Their village is completely destroyed, families are torn apart, people die.
--------------------------
THE FIRST TWENTY PAGES:
"Everything in Acadia perfect. On most evenings, Evangeline, the fairest of maidens, could be found weaving in the home of her father, a proud farmer, who hummed songs he learned in the Burgundian countryside. There was a knock at the door and in came the blacksmith and his son Gabriel, the noblest of young men.
"Come in, my friends," said her father, "and join us by the fire for our home is a lonely place without you. Come and sit and we will speak of the old country. What say you friend? What news have you today?"
And the blacksmith replied, "Have you seen those god damned English warships out in the bay?! When the fuck did they get here?! Holy shit, we're screwed! They got, like, fifty cannons on each one of those things. What the fuck are we going to do about that!?
Evangeline caught Gabriel's eye and blushed."
--------------------------
While it does get fairly active during the expulsion, Evangeline spends the rest of her life aimlessly wandering around being sad over being separated from her boyfriend, Gabriel. Call me a stick in the mud but there wasn't much character development to make me sympathetic. We know almost nothing about their relationship or about them as people. The best description we get is that Evangeline is the 'fairest of maidens' and Gabriel is the 'noblest of boys'. We're supposed to look up to Evangeline for being so dedicated, so unrepenting in her love, but these days her gay best friend would tell her to quit her damn crying because there's a lot of available Yankee dick for the world's fairest maiden.
Oh! Also, there's a moment when she's sailing down the river in Mississippi River (or somewhere) and she meets some of her separated kin. One of them tells her, 'The American south is the fucking best. The land is fertile and it doesn't snow all the damn time. This year, I didn't lose my entire family to famine and/or scurvy and/or bear attacks. I'm so glad we were deported."
Kind of ruins the whole book, doesn't it!? They were pretty happy with the outcome, after all.
Anyway, I was happy to read it and it's a historical text I would highly recommend if you're interested in the topic but yeah, it's pretty weird.
--------------------------
THE ENTIRE REST OF THE BOOK:
"She walked around and looked at some trees and sometimes thought of Gabriel even though she knew nothing about him because their fathers never allowed them to spend time alone and because women wasn't allowed to express their own thoughts so Gabriel could not reply to them with his thoughts.
She walked around for forty years until there was a plague and she took a job as a nurse and one day there was Gabriel on a cot in the hospital. She cried and he cried and you think she's going to be rewarded for her patience and then he full on dies right there."
--------------------------
But you got those last ten seconds in, right Evangeline?! Totally acceptable ratio of wandering to boyfriend time.
After many pages painting Acadia as the most perfect, pure, and beautiful place, the English arrive. It's a pretty jarring and entertaining tone shift. Shit gets real pretty quick. The language is a bit flowery which softens the action but it is truly a violent scene. Their village is completely destroyed, families are torn apart, people die.
--------------------------
THE FIRST TWENTY PAGES:
"Everything in Acadia perfect. On most evenings, Evangeline, the fairest of maidens, could be found weaving in the home of her father, a proud farmer, who hummed songs he learned in the Burgundian countryside. There was a knock at the door and in came the blacksmith and his son Gabriel, the noblest of young men.
"Come in, my friends," said her father, "and join us by the fire for our home is a lonely place without you. Come and sit and we will speak of the old country. What say you friend? What news have you today?"
And the blacksmith replied, "Have you seen those god damned English warships out in the bay?! When the fuck did they get here?! Holy shit, we're screwed! They got, like, fifty cannons on each one of those things. What the fuck are we going to do about that!?
Evangeline caught Gabriel's eye and blushed."
--------------------------
While it does get fairly active during the expulsion, Evangeline spends the rest of her life aimlessly wandering around being sad over being separated from her boyfriend, Gabriel. Call me a stick in the mud but there wasn't much character development to make me sympathetic. We know almost nothing about their relationship or about them as people. The best description we get is that Evangeline is the 'fairest of maidens' and Gabriel is the 'noblest of boys'. We're supposed to look up to Evangeline for being so dedicated, so unrepenting in her love, but these days her gay best friend would tell her to quit her damn crying because there's a lot of available Yankee dick for the world's fairest maiden.
Oh! Also, there's a moment when she's sailing down the river in Mississippi River (or somewhere) and she meets some of her separated kin. One of them tells her, 'The American south is the fucking best. The land is fertile and it doesn't snow all the damn time. This year, I didn't lose my entire family to famine and/or scurvy and/or bear attacks. I'm so glad we were deported."
Kind of ruins the whole book, doesn't it!? They were pretty happy with the outcome, after all.
Anyway, I was happy to read it and it's a historical text I would highly recommend if you're interested in the topic but yeah, it's pretty weird.
--------------------------
THE ENTIRE REST OF THE BOOK:
"She walked around and looked at some trees and sometimes thought of Gabriel even though she knew nothing about him because their fathers never allowed them to spend time alone and because women wasn't allowed to express their own thoughts so Gabriel could not reply to them with his thoughts.
She walked around for forty years until there was a plague and she took a job as a nurse and one day there was Gabriel on a cot in the hospital. She cried and he cried and you think she's going to be rewarded for her patience and then he full on dies right there."
--------------------------
But you got those last ten seconds in, right Evangeline?! Totally acceptable ratio of wandering to boyfriend time.
April 30, 2012
"Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, Benedict's daughter!"
"Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the blacksmith!"
I remember when my 6th grade teacher introduced this book to our class as a small assignment to understand a part of Canada's history. It was kind of an introduction to our big Canada Projects due at the end of the year. In class, we read a base outline, including only major details. I was almost satisfied with that until I saw the ending. It wasn't there. The part that wasn't there was the part my teacher wanted us to look up. No, it did not include extra credit and what not but I was greatly interested in the book because of its romantic essence
Pretty soon, I got a copy of this epic poem and I'm almost through reading it a second time. This love story makes my heart leap with the poetic language and fluid motions of the words. Even though I was only eleven years old when I read it for the first time, the fascination hasn't worn off yet. I always find something new every time I re-read this. To anyone who has never read an epic poem, this is a good starter. It is direct, but the mind is still excercised.
"Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the blacksmith!"
I remember when my 6th grade teacher introduced this book to our class as a small assignment to understand a part of Canada's history. It was kind of an introduction to our big Canada Projects due at the end of the year. In class, we read a base outline, including only major details. I was almost satisfied with that until I saw the ending. It wasn't there. The part that wasn't there was the part my teacher wanted us to look up. No, it did not include extra credit and what not but I was greatly interested in the book because of its romantic essence
Pretty soon, I got a copy of this epic poem and I'm almost through reading it a second time. This love story makes my heart leap with the poetic language and fluid motions of the words. Even though I was only eleven years old when I read it for the first time, the fascination hasn't worn off yet. I always find something new every time I re-read this. To anyone who has never read an epic poem, this is a good starter. It is direct, but the mind is still excercised.
January 5, 2020
English has / never / sounded this / good using / dactyls and / spondees.
August 12, 2016
I am ashamed to say, for being an Acadian, I never read this before today! I knew the story but reading it was far much better.
Will be definitely adding this to our school curriculum
Will be definitely adding this to our school curriculum
September 18, 2012
I still remember taking this out from the library in the sixth grade and reading it when I stayed home sick from school with a cold. My mother walks into my room and finds me just sobbing over the ending of this poem, absolutely devasted and in love with the story. Twelve years later, it still has my heart.
May 26, 2019
I grew up in Louisiana and have a sister named Evangeline, yet I never got around to reading this until today. Overall? meh. But certainly not bad and I can see why people like it. It could make a great opera.
I didn't get a strong sense of rhythm from it, so I can't tell whether he got the right number of syllables in tricky words like Natchitoches and Atchafalaya.
I didn't get a strong sense of rhythm from it, so I can't tell whether he got the right number of syllables in tricky words like Natchitoches and Atchafalaya.
October 11, 2016
Longfellow's epic poem, Evangeline, is truly one of the greatest stories I ever read. A hopeless romantic like me would of course be entranced by a love story such as this. Written in dactylic hexameter, in the same style as The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid, the poetry flows as smooth as ice on an Acadian lake. Heart wrenching and sad, set against the Great Upheaval of the French Acadians in 1755, while they were forcibly relocated by the British, the story is poignant, and upsetting, given the harsh realities of governments over individuals. Everyone wants to be loved by a person like Evangeline, whose love is so pure, it knows no limits or bounds. This story is a real treat to read, especially out loud, given the beautiful cadence of Longfellow's chosen style.
February 4, 2013
Beautiful story, Henry!
Read
June 25, 2016In a word - delightful. That "forest primeval" never fails to send chills down my spine.
May 15, 2019
A tragic tale of state power, forced migration, and dispersed families.
September 10, 2018
Longfellow has a beautiful way with words and everything flows so naturally and elegantly.
I don’t think I have ever read something quite like it.
I had no really serious problems or issues with this epic poem I only wish that I was able to understand the first half of the story quicker. I also only wish Evangeline would have realized if she stayed were she was the chances of his return was somewhat likely and I also wished her will was stronger. It’s a truly epic love that can hold on for a lifetime to someone that may be dead or married himself (at some point), but there lies my frustration. At a certain point in your life it’s okay to move on and allow yourself some resemblance of happiness even after such a love as Evangeline had. She never seemed happy..
Other than that🙃
I don’t think I have ever read something quite like it.
I had no really serious problems or issues with this epic poem I only wish that I was able to understand the first half of the story quicker. I also only wish Evangeline would have realized if she stayed were she was the chances of his return was somewhat likely and I also wished her will was stronger. It’s a truly epic love that can hold on for a lifetime to someone that may be dead or married himself (at some point), but there lies my frustration. At a certain point in your life it’s okay to move on and allow yourself some resemblance of happiness even after such a love as Evangeline had. She never seemed happy..
Other than that🙃
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2021
A beautiful prose poem that stands as one of Longfellow's best loved works and rightfully so.
March 9, 2017
I spent almost the entire time reading this wanting to throw it across the room. First because I was frustrated with the style and then because of the actual plot.
I quickly got tired of hearing how fair a maid Evangeline was and how Gabriel was the noblest of all the youths. We get it: they're gorgeous people who're destined to be together. Except...
Cruel Fate has torn them apart. Yeah, that's depressing. Really frustratingly depressing. But this only worked to make me angry, not sympathetic. There are times I'm too literal to just accept certain things and go along with the flow of the story. This happens to be one of those times. Sucks for me.
Poor Evangeline treks across the land following rumors trying to catch up to Gabriel. You know what my parents always taught me when I got lost? Stay in one place. Don't wander. It makes it harder for you to be found. So what does Gabriel do? He wanders. And the only time he stays in one place is when Evangeline stays in one place too hoping he'll come back to that location. Ugh! So much anger. Why does Evangeline hear all these rumors and searches for him but he doesn't seem to be hearing anything about her?
Here's the only passage giving any indication of Gabriel being upset about being parted from Evangeline. And yes, I'm aware that this poem is following Evangeline so we don't get Gabriel's perspective, but still.
Now, about my book version. It's 111 pages including a map of Acadia and an introduction by C. Bruce Fergusson, MA, DPhil. (Oxon.) which is 30 pages long. There are also 12 pages of black and white pictures or illustrations depicting scenes. The map never needs to be referenced to understand or imagine the locations, and I didn't much bother with the introduction because it read like a dull history textbook.
I quickly got tired of hearing how fair a maid Evangeline was and how Gabriel was the noblest of all the youths. We get it: they're gorgeous people who're destined to be together. Except...
Cruel Fate has torn them apart. Yeah, that's depressing. Really frustratingly depressing. But this only worked to make me angry, not sympathetic. There are times I'm too literal to just accept certain things and go along with the flow of the story. This happens to be one of those times. Sucks for me.
Poor Evangeline treks across the land following rumors trying to catch up to Gabriel. You know what my parents always taught me when I got lost? Stay in one place. Don't wander. It makes it harder for you to be found. So what does Gabriel do? He wanders. And the only time he stays in one place is when Evangeline stays in one place too hoping he'll come back to that location. Ugh! So much anger. Why does Evangeline hear all these rumors and searches for him but he doesn't seem to be hearing anything about her?
Here's the only passage giving any indication of Gabriel being upset about being parted from Evangeline. And yes, I'm aware that this poem is following Evangeline so we don't get Gabriel's perspective, but still.
"'Be of good cheer, my child; it is only to-day he
departed.
Foolish boy! he has left me alone with my herds and my
horses.
Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, his
spirit
Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet existence.
Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful ever,
Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troubles,
He at length had become so tedious to men and to
maidens,
Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me, and
sent him
Unto the town of Adayes to trade for mules with the
Spaniards.'"
Now, about my book version. It's 111 pages including a map of Acadia and an introduction by C. Bruce Fergusson, MA, DPhil. (Oxon.) which is 30 pages long. There are also 12 pages of black and white pictures or illustrations depicting scenes. The map never needs to be referenced to understand or imagine the locations, and I didn't much bother with the introduction because it read like a dull history textbook.
January 11, 2019
(Audible)
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.........
It's been a long time since I read Longfellow. I had forgotten the nimble dexterity and precision of words that Longfellow can describe a place, transporting you there so you recognize it even if you've never been there.
The love story between Evangeline and Gabriel may have once been my focus when reading the poem, but now I see them as manifestations of ideas and feelings. The searching, searching, searching and always being a week or two behind summons feelings of having lost one's home--either by moving away or growing up. Things change. We can seek and chase, but it will always be outside our grasp.
The poem is a story of the Acadian people, forced out of Canada and resettling in Louisiana, but it is also a story of America. While there is the physical travels to different geographic areas, there is also the emotional journeys--the longing, the hope, the dedication to helping others.
It's a beautiful poem. Put it on your list and reread it again.
RECOMMEND
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.........
It's been a long time since I read Longfellow. I had forgotten the nimble dexterity and precision of words that Longfellow can describe a place, transporting you there so you recognize it even if you've never been there.
The love story between Evangeline and Gabriel may have once been my focus when reading the poem, but now I see them as manifestations of ideas and feelings. The searching, searching, searching and always being a week or two behind summons feelings of having lost one's home--either by moving away or growing up. Things change. We can seek and chase, but it will always be outside our grasp.
The poem is a story of the Acadian people, forced out of Canada and resettling in Louisiana, but it is also a story of America. While there is the physical travels to different geographic areas, there is also the emotional journeys--the longing, the hope, the dedication to helping others.
It's a beautiful poem. Put it on your list and reread it again.
RECOMMEND
October 24, 2016
I discovered this book while shopping at a second hand book store, and I only bought it because the book was absolutely beautiful. I had no intention of actually reading the book, I just wanted it for my old book collection. But the more I started at the cover, the more I wanted to actually read the story - and I'm really glad I did.
I'm trying to get more into poetry, and I haven't been as successful, but this story was really beautiful and easy to read, and I highly recommend it. But then again, I am quite fond of romantic tales:)
First of all, the way my book is structured, the poetry is fairly easy to read. I came across another version of Evangeline, and the way the poetry was written in that book flowed differently. I read the first half of this book aloud just so I could get a handle on the flow of the lines, and then once I figured that out, I could read it in my head - but it sounded much better when being read aloud.
If you are familiar with popular bible stories and images, you should have no trouble understanding this book.
I'm trying to get more into poetry, and I haven't been as successful, but this story was really beautiful and easy to read, and I highly recommend it. But then again, I am quite fond of romantic tales:)
First of all, the way my book is structured, the poetry is fairly easy to read. I came across another version of Evangeline, and the way the poetry was written in that book flowed differently. I read the first half of this book aloud just so I could get a handle on the flow of the lines, and then once I figured that out, I could read it in my head - but it sounded much better when being read aloud.
If you are familiar with popular bible stories and images, you should have no trouble understanding this book.
September 20, 2015
Truly a sad story written in epic poetry style of a sad time in Canadian history; the Expulsion of the Acadians, the French people who lived and farmed in the Maritime provinces in the the 1700's. The poem flows beautifully through the telling of what life was like for these gentle, caring French families who only wanted to live a simple life in their villages. The British decided they had to leave their farms, their families and their lifestock and in the confusion of loading the villagers onto ships that would drop them along the coast of the United States, families were separated...husband on one ship, wife on another, some children got lost and left behind.
But the main theme of the poem is the story of two young people who were about to be married; Evangeline and Gabriel. They were on different ships and spent the rest of their lives searching for each other.
But the main theme of the poem is the story of two young people who were about to be married; Evangeline and Gabriel. They were on different ships and spent the rest of their lives searching for each other.
December 17, 2022
I’m just in awe of this poem. How someone could write such a moving piece in so few words has me absolutely floored. I went through all the emotions while reading this, more so than I do on longer works of fiction. It is so well written, with each word carefully chosen to hold its own weight in developing the time, scene, and raw emotion of the story. I just finished, but already want to go back and slowly savor it, again. Evangeline will now always have my heart.
January 20, 2019
Beautiful love story about the ideal love of woman with all the flavor of a Romantic-Era work. The poem reads a lot like some of my favorite E.A. Poe love poems except with the added benefit of being a longer ("epic") narrative structure which allows for the characters, plot, and themes to be more fully fleshed out. I also thought the actual historical events of the setting for this poem were fascinating, albeit sad.
February 2, 2020
Beautiful, flowing, descriptive: Longfellow's prose is so moving.
Skillfully shaping each dactyl, hexameter keeps the tale flowing,
Causing your thoughts to keep moving beyond their conventional borders.
Skillfully shaping each dactyl, hexameter keeps the tale flowing,
Causing your thoughts to keep moving beyond their conventional borders.
February 28, 2014
That'n made me cry, Pa
January 25, 2024
"I had the fever a long time burning in my own brain before I let my hero take it. 'Evangeline' is so easy for you to read, because it was so hard for me to write." --Longfellow.
(1847). “This is the forest primeval." The poet starts with an image of the now-desolate wilderness. It's an eerie keynote before Part One begins and he studiously resurrects the rustic idyll that was Acadia (a colony in Nova Scotia) around 1755. It's charming.
“In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly the farmer
Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames and the smoke-wreaths
Struggled together like foes in a burning city.
Behind him,
Nodding and mocking along the wall, with gestures fantastic,
Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into darkness.
Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his arm-chair
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates on the dresser
Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine.”
If you've seen any Hollywood movie that's ever been made (and if you noticed the ominous, war-like language woven into the homespun scene above), you know what's coming next. Longfellow shatters his idyll. The British burn the colony down.
I liked this poem better than Miles Standish. The style was homier and the storytelling a bit more complex. Essentially it's about separated lovers trying to unite. At one point in their wanderings they cross paths, just missing each other through a screen of trees. There are a number of narrative ideas like this that are cliches now. A certain dreamy magic pervades the scene when Evangeline discovers her people, having reinvented themselves and prospering among the alien swamps of Louisiana.
I liked the classical meter too, though I thought this tidbit from Wikipedia was funny: "Speaking privately, all of Longfellow's literary associates but Whittier attacked the piece, including his old friend John Neal, who wrote: 'You really ought to be hanged–drawn and quartered' for writing in hexameter."
Marginalia: The old-fashioned tale of the magpie and the necklace was quaint and the ending actually gave me goosebumps.
Quotes:
“Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on the surface
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor is hidden.
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world calls illusions."
I believe this more and more as I get older.
(1847). “This is the forest primeval." The poet starts with an image of the now-desolate wilderness. It's an eerie keynote before Part One begins and he studiously resurrects the rustic idyll that was Acadia (a colony in Nova Scotia) around 1755. It's charming.
“In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly the farmer
Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames and the smoke-wreaths
Struggled together like foes in a burning city.
Behind him,
Nodding and mocking along the wall, with gestures fantastic,
Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into darkness.
Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his arm-chair
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates on the dresser
Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine.”
If you've seen any Hollywood movie that's ever been made (and if you noticed the ominous, war-like language woven into the homespun scene above), you know what's coming next. Longfellow shatters his idyll. The British burn the colony down.
I liked this poem better than Miles Standish. The style was homier and the storytelling a bit more complex. Essentially it's about separated lovers trying to unite. At one point in their wanderings they cross paths, just missing each other through a screen of trees. There are a number of narrative ideas like this that are cliches now. A certain dreamy magic pervades the scene when Evangeline discovers her people, having reinvented themselves and prospering among the alien swamps of Louisiana.
I liked the classical meter too, though I thought this tidbit from Wikipedia was funny: "Speaking privately, all of Longfellow's literary associates but Whittier attacked the piece, including his old friend John Neal, who wrote: 'You really ought to be hanged–drawn and quartered' for writing in hexameter."
Marginalia: The old-fashioned tale of the magpie and the necklace was quaint and the ending actually gave me goosebumps.
Quotes:
“Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on the surface
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor is hidden.
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world calls illusions."
I believe this more and more as I get older.
August 16, 2020
3 stars & 3/10 hearts. The first part of this story is full of beautiful imagery and pathos; the second part is a little less interesting but still readable. The delicate smilies and metaphors, as mentioned, are simply beautiful... especially those of the sea and the stars and the forest. There is a mention of a kiss between Evangeline and Gabriel. Review to be updated.
A Favourite Quote: “Evangeline stood among the guests of her father; / Bright was her face with smiles, and words of welcome and gladness / Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as she gave it.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, / Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, / Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, / Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. / Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean / Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.”
A Favourite Quote: “Evangeline stood among the guests of her father; / Bright was her face with smiles, and words of welcome and gladness / Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as she gave it.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, / Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, / Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, / Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. / Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean / Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.”
May 27, 2021
Originally published in 1847, I have an 1893 leatherbound, very used edition that I may have paid a "little" sum for from Abebooks.com online. But, as justification, this little book depicts the plight of the deportation and love lost and found of my ancestry, the Acadians, in poetry form. In this poem, Evangeline is separated from her love during the Great Deportation. She does eventually find him in America, after many of the Acadians found their way to Louisiana, but a little too late. He had found a new love and was married. This poem is well-known throughout our culture. Although, Evangeline is fictional, you will find a memorial and statue of her on the grounds of the St. Martin du Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, Louisiana. And you will also find a park on Bayou Teche, also in St. Martinville, with an old, beautiful oak tree named after her as well, "Evangeline Oak".
Read
February 3, 2023This is probably only interesting to me, but I think Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" is why I originally read Longfellow's "Evangeline" about six years ago.
"The river rose all day, the river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright
The river had busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
"Louisiana, Louisiana,
They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away..."
Newman also wrote a song called "Ma Belle Evangeline," which is sung by Jim Cummings in Disney's The Princess and the Frog.
Weirdly, it turns out that Nathaniel Hawthorne is the one who introduced Longfellow to the history of the Acadians and the story of Evangeline. (I only say "weirdly" because I didn't know that before and I happen to be reading something else by Hawthorne at the moment.)
"The river rose all day, the river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright
The river had busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
"Louisiana, Louisiana,
They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away..."
Newman also wrote a song called "Ma Belle Evangeline," which is sung by Jim Cummings in Disney's The Princess and the Frog.
Weirdly, it turns out that Nathaniel Hawthorne is the one who introduced Longfellow to the history of the Acadians and the story of Evangeline. (I only say "weirdly" because I didn't know that before and I happen to be reading something else by Hawthorne at the moment.)
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