Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847)

With map and "postcard" photos of The Evangeline Country of Nova Scotia (Acadia). First published in 1847, ninety two years after the culmination of "le grand derangement", and before the history of the deportation had been investigated. Ironically, the French colonists had never been a threat to anyone, but they were pawns in foreign rivalries.

The "story" of a bridal couple separated by the forced deportation until each was old but still searching for the other may have aspects of truth. The theme of constancy and love.

"This is the forest primeval."

Book Description: 1895, LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline : A Tale of Acadie. Minnehaha Edition. Chicago : Smith-Andrews Publishing Co., (1895). Pp [1]-98,i-viii. Illustrated. 8vo, gilt-decorated green cloth, t.e.g. 'Decorated with leaves from the Arcadian Forests'

Serene, relentless, first published in 1847, ninety-two years after the neutral town of Gran Pre was destroyed, and its inhabitants removed and separated, during the hostilities between new England and new France, in which Acadia was a pawn. The story of a girl separated from her lover in that derangement, grown old looking for each other, and finally finding each other again, on the threshhold of death. ( )

Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The beautiful, lyrical poem about the Acadians after the discovery of America.
One of the most beautiful openings in the history of literature:

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in the accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

I am certain that many of us here on LT know those words by memory.

"Evangeline is just a beautiful, lovely poem a little over 100 pages long about love and loss; the searching and finding of it again only to realize it is too late.

My copy has been handed down in the family and is a very delicate April, 1908 copy. It was copyrighted in 1900.

I read this for the first time in the fifth grade and have never forgotten it. I very highly recommended "Evangeline" for anyone who loves poetry and beautifully written prose. I rated it 5 stars. ( )

Having grown up in Canada, this was required reading and I must say, it was, and remains, one of my favourites. It is hugely tragic, but incredibly interesting as a history.

Longfellow's work details the exile of the French Acadians from Nova Scotia by the English in the mid-18th century, many of whom ended up in Louisiana (the word "cajun" being a bastardization of "acadian,") and the lifelong search of one woman named Evangeline for her love Gabriel from whom she was separated during the exile.

There is some debate as to Evangeline's actual existence, but the fact is, whether she existed or not, under another name (as many believe) or not at all, but she is immortalized in a beautiful epic poem, in a parish in Louisiana and in a driving route in Nova Scotia.

Longfellow's poem brings to the forefront an oft-neglected piece of both Canadian and American history in a beautiful, if tragic, story. ( )