The Song of Hiawatha (Nonpareil Book) - Hardcover

Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1567922732 ISBN 13: 9781567922738

Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher Inc, 2004

Synopsis

Unusual book

About this title

Synopsis

In the summer of 1854, Longfellow wrote in his diary "I have at length hit upon a plan for a poem on the American Indians, which seems to me the right one and the only. It is to weave together their beautiful traditions as whole." What emerged the next year was "The Song of Hiawatha," a composite of legends, folklore, myth, and characters that presents, in short, lilting lines (who can forget "By the shore of Gitche-Gumme / By the shining Big-Sea Water"?) the life-story of a real Indian, who provides the focus for the narrative thread of this epic drama of high adventure, tragedy and conflict.The aim was not to tell a particular or specific story but to unite the strands of various Indian legends, to present a sympathetic portrait of many Native American tribes, and especially to disclose their profound relationship with the natural world. This when both government policies and an expanding, land-hungry population were just beginning their inexorable campaign of displacement and annihilation.The poem received a decidedly mixed reception.

Our own "Boston Traveller" revealed its biases: "We cannot help but express our regret that our own pet national poet should not have selected as a theme of his muse something better and higher than the silly legends of the savage aborigines." Despite this, the poem entered into our canon of great narratives, and was revived again in 1891 when Remington, surely the most renowned artist of the West, provided with new pen and ink drawings.This handsome new, and freshly reset, edition (the only unabridged version in print) presents the full text, includes all 400 of the original Remington illustrations, and provides an index of the Indian names and their meanings.

About the Author

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride," The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was one of the five Fireside Poets. Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting 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.

Amy Sterling Casil is a 2002 Nebula Award nominee and recipient of other awards and recognition for her short science fiction and fantasy, which has appeared in publications ranging from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction to Zoetrope. She is the author of 28 nonfiction books, over a hundred short stories, three fiction and poetry collections, and three novels. Amy is a founding member and treasurer of Book View Cafe and former treasurer of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, and teaches writing and composition at Saddleback College. She is the founder of Chameleon Publishing.

About this edition

• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1567922732
• ISBN 13: 9781567922738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304
• Illustrator: Remington Frederic