Longfellow: Under the Influence

Edward Wagenknect on American identity and poetry:

“To be American, poets must write ‘naturally…from their own feelings and impressions, from the influence of what they see around them, and not from any preconceived notions of what poetry ought to be, caught by reading many books, and imitating many models (134)’”.

Weagenknect on Longfellow and America:

“Longfellow champions and exemplifies nationalism in literature, but it should be understood that his nationalism is clearly of the eclectic variety… American literature does not imitate English literature but rather continues it; that the development of its national character cannot be forced; and, finally, that it ought to embrace not only our English but also our contintental heritage (135)”.

The Song of Hiawatha, based on American Indian legends, demonstrates an appreciation for the “real” American traditions. The speaker participates in the fabric of his tales; he is not a mere outsider looking in. Instead of imposing European perspectives and imagery, Longfellow is careful in choosing a voice which seeks to illustrate rather than to judge. He employs repetition to create a sense of rhythm.

Excerpt from the introduction

Should you ask me,
whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations
As of thunder in the mountains?


I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer."

The Indians are a perfect exemplar of the communion between man and nature, the speaker participates in presenting a form of American identity that is not European. Like Longfellow’s other poetry, the style throughout emphasizes simplicity and clarity. Longfellow believes that “every work of art should explain itself (104)”, and was against “deep profundities beyond the reach of the everyday reader (104)”. This makes his works very accessible, but at the same time their simplicity seems to provoke only emotion and not thought. Longfellow is best known for his nursery rhymes such as “Mother Goose”, and “There was a Little Girl.”

Perhaps due to his simplistic style, Longfellow has come under harsh criticisms from other American Romantics, “The most important attacks made upon Longfellow during his lifetime came from Edgar Allan Poe and Margaret Fuller. Margaret Fuller did not charge him with plagiarism, but she was very severe upon what she considered his shortcomings as a poet (143)”.

Works Cited:

Wagenknecht, Edward. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Portrait of an American Humanist. New York, Oxford University Press, 1966.