Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

It is amazing that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow could put so much into a 52 page poem. There is the love story, of course, and the themes of devotion and persistence, but there is also faith, forgiveness, the cruelties of war, injustice, extreme loss, strength of character, and reclamation.

The descriptive quality of his poetry is mesmerizing. I felt I could see the Acadian village, the Louisiana bayou and the western mountains. Does this not describe the spread of an epidemic perfectly:
And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September,
Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow,
So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural margin,
Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence.

You can show more both feel the spreading of the disease and in an eerie way, see it.

I read this once, long ago, when I was a girl. Then it was just the love story that I came away with. It was like reading Romeo and Juliet as a teenager. This time, I left the poem with so much more! show less

A story of never-ending love, we wander with Evangeline to try to reach Gabriel, the man she loves. I had read this in high school and decided to read it again, well, listen. I got a recording from https://librivox.org, a site for readings of U.S. public domain works, recorded by volunteers. The reader of Evangeline was magnificent. He did not give in to sing-song, too prevalent with poetry readings by amateurs. His enunciation was wonderful. His speed of reading was most comfortable for me, I cannot understand speech which is too rapid, my brain just can't process it. Thank you Leonard Wilson. I wish Librivox had a search for works read by specific volunteers so I could look for more of your contributions.

One thing bothers me. She show more wanders all over the continental US trying to catch up to this man she loves beyond, frankly, all reason. A day behind, six days behind until back to Pennsylvania where, an old woman, she stops. But why wasn't he looking for her? It truly is more a tale of unrequited love than never-ending love. He certainly is not good enough for her. In love with her, he never tried to find her? show less

This review is of this stupid Amazon free Kindle edition, not Longfellow's great poem. THIS EDITION COMPLETELY OMITS THE PRELUDE. The prelude sets the tone for the entire poem, and nicely mirrors the final stanza. Apparently the "group of volunteers" who converted the hard copy to an ebook were a bunch of Philistines who thought that the book's Part the First began at the Roman numeral one, and that the few preceding stanzas were just a bunch of stuff somebody added for no good reason. Well, since this edition is free, I guess one shouldn't expect to receive the complete work. This is so bad because anyone new to poetry might not know the prelude was omitted, and thus be robbed of a slice of Longfellow's genius that goes a long way to show more making Evangeline the masterpiece that it is. Shame on those volunteers. show less

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 show more 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. show less

Originally published in 1847, I have an 1893 leatherbound, very used edition that I may have paid a "little" sum for from Abebooks.com online. But, as justification, this little book depicts the plight of the deportation and love lost and found of my ancestry, the Acadians, in poetry form. In this poem, Evangeline is separated from her love during the Great Deportation. She does eventually find him in America, after many of the Acadians found their way to Louisiana, but a little too late. He had found a new love and was married. This poem is well-known throughout our culture. Although, Evangeline is fictional, you will find a memorial and statue of her on the grounds of the St. Martin du Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, show more Louisiana. And you will also find a park on Bayou Teche, also in St. Martinville, with an old, beautiful oak tree named after her as well, "Evangeline Oak". show less

Beautifully illustrated with drawings and paintings from earlier editions, this is a wonderful collectors edition. I recently saw the Charlottetown Centre for the Arts production of the musical version of Evangeline and the story line they used did not always follow the one I thought existed. Thus I read the full poem to check what Longfellow had really written especially the part where the musical suggested Evangeline and Gabriel had been married. They were not married in the poem, just betrothed.
The introduction by Fergusson is full of interesting details about why the poem was written and from what sources Longfellow took his geography lessons as he described Evangeline's travels.

"This is the forest primeval..." During my 6th grade year, the local jr high decided to remove this hoary old treasure from the 8th grade curriculum. Many education-minded parents regretted the decision. Just shows me that we are smart to continually revise the canon.
(Look, Ma! I FINALLY read it!)