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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
At the end of a somewhat severe criticism of Evangeline, Theodore Parker said, “American readers may well thank the author for a poem, so wholly American in its incidents, its geography, and its setting.” The careful reader of the poem today naturally wonders at the poet's sources for all this knowledge of American geography and scenery, especially of that part of the country called “the west”; for, although he had visited only one of the places pictured, namely Philadelphia, he has shown a remarkably accurate knowledge of the details of the various regions. A great deal has been written concerning the historical basis of Part One, but little attention has been paid to the underlying sources of Part Two. The purpose of this paper is to point out some of the material which was used by Longfellow in this second Part.
1 Massachusetts Quarterly Review, vol i, no. 1, Dec., 1847, p. 135.
2 Life of H. W. Longfellow, by Samuel Longfellow, vol. ii, p. 26.
3 “April 29th, 1846. Looked over the Receuil de Cantiques â l'usage des Missions, etc., Quebec, 1833. A curious book, in which the most ardent spiritual canticles are sung to common airs and dancing tunes. For instance—La Mort du Juste: sur l'air, ‘On dit que vos parents sont autant de Centaurs.’ Pieux sentiments envers Jesus Christ: sur l'air ‘ Des Folies d'Espagne.’ Other airs are Le Carillon de Dunguerque; Charmante Gabrielle; Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres” (ibid., p. 36). Two of these songs are embodied in Part One (iv, 31, 32):
Gayly the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his fiddle, Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres, and Le Carillon de Dunquerque.
“April 11, 1846. Read Dr. Page's 'Prairiedom, or the New Estremadura, namely Texas.” The full title is “Prairiedom; rambles and scrambles in Texas or New Estremadura. By a Suthron [F. L. Page].” 1845. A careful reading of this book shows no direct influence upon any of the lines. It seems merely to have given general atmosphere.
This entry was furnished the writer of the paper by Miss Alice Longfellow, daughter of the poet. This, with the other unpublished entries which are quoted, she copied directly from the journals. Miss Longfellow kindly permitted the writer to examine the manuscript of Evangeline, thus enabling him to substantiate many points.
4 Ibid., p. 66.
5 Ibid., p. 81.
6 Ibid., p. 65.
7 Ibid., p. 67.
8 Ibid., p. 68.
9 Ibid., p. 74.
10 A Geographical Description of the State of Louisiana, … Being an accompaniment to the Map of Louisiana. By William Darby, 1816.
11 Cabin Book: or National Characteristics. By Charles Sealsfield.
12 Life, p. 75.
13 Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. By John F. Watson, 1842.
14 Vol. ii, p. 410.
15 Life, p. 77.
16 Ibid., p. 77.
17 Ibid., p. 80.
18 Ibid., p. 80.
19 Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1843-44. By J. C. Fremont, 1845.
20 Life in the New World; or Sketches of American Society. By Seatafield [i. e., Charles Sealsfield]. Translated from the German by G. C. Hebbe and J. Mackey, 1844.
21 The Early Jesuit Missions in North America. By W. I. Kipp, 1847.
22 Page 9.
23 Life, p. 26.
24 Life, p. 82.
25 Page 128.
26 Page 127.
27 Page 115.
28 Page 14.
29 Page 114.
30 Page 120.
31 Page 130.
32 Algic Researches. By Henry Schoolcraft, 1845.
33 Oneóta, or Characteristics of the Red Race of America. By Henry R. Schoolcraft, 1845.
These references to the Indian legends are pointed out by Dr. Paul Morin, in his thesis, Les Sources de l'Oeuvre de Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paris, 1913. The story of Moowis had appeared, however, a year earlier in the first volume of The Columbian Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, New York, 1844; and it is probable that Longfellow had read the story in this form.
34 Part ii, chap. 2.
35 Part iii, chap. 8: “The Father's House.”
36 Part iv, chap. 1: “The Father's House.”
37 Part iv, chap. 5: “The Entrance into the Attakapas.”
38 Part iv, chap. 5.
39 Life, p. 77.
40 Dr. Morin makes the following statement concerning the source for the mocking-bird song: “Longfellow qui récrit ici le chant de l'oiseau moqueur, lisait, à l'epoque où il écrivait ses lignes un poème de Brainard, intitulé The Mocking Bird (cf. Life, n, p. 66) qui a certainement dû l'inspirer.” Longfellow says in the journal, December 8th, 1846, “Looking over Brainard's poems, I find, in a piece called ‘The Mocking Bird,‘ this passage:
Now, when in ‘Excelsior,’ I said ‘A voice fell like a falling star,’ Brainard's poem was not in my mind, nor had I in all probability ever read it. Felton said at the time that the same image was in Euripides, or Pindar,—I forget which. Of a truth, we cannot strike a spade into the soil of Parnassus, without disturbing the bones of some dead poet.“ It is not until January 26th, 1847, that he describes the bird's song for Evangeline, and two days previous to that, January 24th, he had spoken of the Creole Ball, which immediately precedes the description of the bird. The suggestion for this song comes unquestionably from Sealsfield.
41 Part iv, chap. 5.
42 Concerning the Black Robe Missions, Dr. Paul Morin says: “La jeune heroine continuant son mélancolique voyage, s'arrête à la mission que les jésuits avaient établie dans le territoire indien (Texas). Or, en mai 1844, la Democratic Review de New York publiait un article de W. B. Peabody, intitulé The early Jesuit Missionaries in the North Western Territory; M. Sieper se demande, très logiquement, si la lecture de cet essai n'aurait pu suggérer à Longfellow cet incident d'Evangeline. Le souvenir d'une lecture agréable, la facilité d'expression que donne un sujet déjà étudié, l'aptitude a conduire ses héros vers une région visitée en esprit avec un auteur attrayant ne rendent pas le fait impossible.” It seems likely that Longfellow would be influenced more directly by the book he was reading at the time of his writing, than by an article of a previous date.
43 P. 2.
44 It will be noted that the last four lines have evidently been changed in order to praise Father Raslas, for the lines as they appear in the first edition of the poem, are: