Evangeline: With Notes and Plan of Study
Evangeline: With Notes and Plan of Study
In 1755, British soldiers tore a peaceful community apart. The Acadians of Grand-Pré were ripped from their farms and scattered across the colonies, and in the chaos, Evangeline lost Gabriel, the man she had loved since childhood. What follows is one of literature's most haunting searches: two people, endlessly walking different roads, always arriving just after the other has left. Longfellow wrote this poem in dactylic hexameter, that ancient meter of Homer and Virgil, and the steady, rolling rhythm only deepens the sense of endless journeying. Though the poem fixed a historical tragedy into legend, and simplified the complexities of Acadian history in the process, it captured something true about loss and longing that transcends any specific era. Evangeline became the symbol of a displaced people, and her search for Gabriel became the search for everyone who has ever tried to find their way back to something irretrievably lost. This is Longfellow at his most melancholy, his most musical, and his most enduring.
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“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“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;Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them,Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever,Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy,Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their labors,Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their journey!””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the consoler, Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever.””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music.””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Patience; accomplish thy labor; accomplish thy work of affection! Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike. Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart is made godlike, Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more worthy of heaven!””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers,”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow, All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing, All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience! And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her bosom, Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, "Father, I thank thee!””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them, Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever, Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy, Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their labors, Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their journey!””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Man is unjust, but God is just; and finally justice Triumphs;””
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
