Evangeline

Evangeline
//A Tale of Arcadie// from the 1893 Cambridge Edition (Originally published in 1847)
 * by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**

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. This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman? Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers -- Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven? Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed! Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean. Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pré. Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient, Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's devotion, List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest; List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. to [|Part I, Canto I]. (This link will take you away from my Wikipage)

__Feminism and Longfellow-Analysis of Evangeline__ Evangeline is the story of the acadian heroine name Evangeline. Evangeline is the protagonist in this cultural story. She is in search of her long lost love, Gabrielle. The couple was separated by their deportation from their homeland by the British rule in 1755. The story tells of the survival of the Acadians in the face of hunger, rejection, homelessness, and other adversities as they searched for a place to call home. There is a plaque at a railroad station in Nova Scotia. It says 'In 1755, British and New England troops under orders of the acting governor and council of Nova Scotia, launched the expulsion of the Acadian people. Nearly 10,000 people were removed from Nova Scotia and dispersed mainly along the Atlantic seaboard of the American colonies. Although the Deportation ended officially in 1764, the Acadians' search for a new homeland lasted another 50 years'. (Evans) There is also a statue of a women, her name is Evangeline. It is the same Evangeline that Longfellow wrote about in his long narrative poem. There never was a real Evangeline. In Longfellow's poem she was about to marry Gabrielle but on their wedding day the deportation began. She searched for him all over England. She found him when she was an elderly nurse. She found him in his death bed and he died in her arms. She died from the shock and followed Gabrielle to the grave. Longfellow gave Evangeline strength and courage during a time when women were often depicted as frail and needly. Longfellow created an archetype of the faithful woman, loyal to the one man that was her true love. (Evans) Longfellow believed in affection that hopes, endures, and is patient. He showed the inner beauty and strength of a woman's devotion in writing Evangeline. (Evans) The real story of the plight of Acadian people is less flattering to American esteem than what Longfellow portrayed. (Haffenden) As with other Longfellow's works, some of the details are a little off, however, Longfellow, like in "The Song of Hiawatha" he raised awareness of other cultures or social issues. He raised abolitionist concerns with his "Poems of Slavery" and the diaspora of the Acadian's with "Evangeline."