A Belated Trip into English Literature: Longfellow

This is not a book review per se - it is a review of a collection of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry. This is the first book of poetry I have read all the way through. It's embarrassing to say, but it's true. I still have a book of EE Cummings that a dear friend gave to me. It's on my "will read soon shelf". And I actually will, after almost 20 years.

I picked Longfellow to start with because he was accessible. Not too out-there. Not too anything, really. My own poetry is very similar. And there was some famous stuff in it. I wonder if there's a lot of symbolism I'm missing, but for some reason, I don't think there is.

So - overall: Longfellow has a few themes that resonated with his time. One was death, and the idea of life after death. Those always go in pairs. Love is another - always requited in the end. The individual's responsibility to improve his life is a third. Fond looks back at one's younger days is another. These themes continue for 296 pages in this book. By the end, it all sounds trite.

Now, Longfellow didn't go out to be a high-falutin' poet. He was a college teacher of foreign languages who wrote poetry on the side. So he had to sell his stuff, and he did. Give the guy credit for creativity.

High points in this collection: The Falcon of Ser Fedrigo, a lovely O Henry-esque tale of love and sacrifice. Beautiful story. The Builders - simple allegory, easily memorized, good message. The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls - it leaves just one image in the mind, simply and easily conjured up again.

The best thing? The Song of Hiawatha. All of Longfellow's themes come to fruition here in high form. The Song of Hiawatha is long - over 100 pages in my edition. It tells the story of the Native American mythical hero Hiawatha, from his birth to his final journey in his birch-bark canoe into the setting sun. I had heard of this poem before, but I know nothing about it - not how he wrote it, how he researched for it, or how accurate the legends are. But it's full of details of Native American life - how to strip the bark of the birch tree, the respect the natives had for the tree that gave its life for the canoe. The culture-changing nature of corn cultivation. The stories of the North, South, East, and West winds, the calls of the birds. He treats the culture with a lot more respect than I thought he would (this is the mid 19th Century, remember), and I loved the rythmic pounding of the poem. He'll say an idea, and then repeat it slightly differently to give the idea a different tone, and the tension builds that way.

The most disappointing? Either Evangeline or The Village Smithy. For being as famous as it is (Under the spreading branches of an oak tree, the village smithy stands...) it packs little punch. I wonder why it's so famous - it doesn't stand out in this collection at all as being something special. Evangeline is just a ridiculous premise, and sexist to boot. It's promising to start with - the young couple is to be married, but they are separated and sent to America under the king's orders. The he lives a life, and she spends her whole life pining away after him. And finally, they meet by chance as he lays dying from the flu. Come. On. Spare me. Not interesting in any way, I just had to plow through that one.

Overall - Longfellow is a good read. Read it aloud to your kids. Then you get a two-fer. If you don't got kids, skip Evangeline but read the rest. Especially Hiawatha. You'll never forget the shu-shu-ga.

Scripture Story Book

For several years, as we've read and studied the scriptures together, I've translated them from King James English to modern kids English. The exercise is fun for me, and brings the characters to life for my kids. So it's time to write it down, and leave it in the cloud.

I'm no scholar - I've done my study, went to seminary as a high schooler, etc, but I don't know Latin or Greek, and I won't get into esoteric stuff. The whole idea here is to make the stories come alive. I can do that. There will be a mix of OT, NT, and Book of Mormon. Each post will be labeled as the chapter, and verse numbers will be scattered through the paragraph.

Enjoy. I hope I will.