''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an
epic poem by the American poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in
English and published in 1847. The poem follows an
Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the
Expulsion of the Acadians.
The idea for the poem came from Longfellow's friend
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Longfellow used
dactylic hexameter, imitating Greek and Latin classics. Though the choice was criticized, it became Longfellow's most famous work in his lifetime and remains one of his most popular and enduring works.
The poem had a powerful effect in defining both Acadian history and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It represents lost loved ones and heartbreak; but also keeping hope as she did in the poem. More recent scholarship has revealed the historical errors in the poem and the complexity of the Expulsion and those involved, which the poem ignores.
Plot
''Evangeline'' describes the betrothal of a fictional Acadian girl named Evangeline Bellefontaine to her beloved, Gabriel Lajeunesse, and their separation as the British deport the Acadians from Acadie in the
Great Upheaval.
Composition and publication history
Longfellow was introduced to the true story of the Acadians in
Nova Scotia by his friend
Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was told a story of separated Acadian lovers by Boston minister Rev. Horace Conolly, who heard it from his parishioners. Hawthorne and Longfellow had attended
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
together, though they were not friends at the time. Years later, in 1837, Hawthorne contacted Longfellow for his opinion on his recently published tales in the ''
North American Review'', which Longfellow praised as works of genius; the two became lifelong friends. Hawthorne was not interested in fictionalizing Conolly's idea because, as he told Conolly, "It is not in my vein: there are no strong lights and heavy shadows." Longfellow took the idea and turned it into a poem after months of studying the histories of Nova Scotian families.
Longfellow, who had never visited the setting of the true story, relied heavily on
Thomas Chandler Haliburton's ''An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia'' and other books for further background information.
He noted his reliance on other sources in his journal on January 7, 1847: "Went to the library and got
Watson's
Watsons () is a Hong Kong health care and beauty care chain store in Asia and Europe. It is the flagship health and beauty brand of the A.S. Watson Group, which is majority owned by CK Hutchison Holdings.
It operates near 8,000 stores and ...
Annals of Philadelphia, and the Historical Collections of Pennsylvania. Also, Darby's Geographical Description of Louisiana. These books must help me through the last part of ''Evangeline'', so far as facts and local coloring go. But for the form and the poetry,—they must come from my own brain."
''Evangeline'' was published in book form on November 1, 1847 by William D. Ticknor & Co., and by 1857 it had sold nearly 36,000 copies. During this time, Longfellow's literary payment was at its peak; for ''Evangeline'', he received "a net of twenty-five and sixteenths per cent" royalties, believed to be an all-time high for a poet. Longfellow said of his poem: "I had the fever a long time burning in my own brain before I let my hero take it. 'Evangeline' is so easy for you to read, because it was so hard for me to write."
Analysis
The poem is written in unrhymed
dactylic hexameter, possibly inspired by Greek and Latin classics, including
Homer, whose work Longfellow was reading at the time he was writing ''Evangeline''. He also had recently, in 1841, translated "The Children of the Lord's Supper", a poem by Swedish writer
Esaias Tegnér, which also used this meter. ''Evangeline'' is one of the few nineteenth-century compositions in that meter which is still read today.
Some criticized Longfellow's choice of dactylic hexameter, including poet
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...
, who said the poem would have been better in a prose style similar to Longfellow's ''
Hyperion
Hyperion may refer to:
Greek mythology
* Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans
* ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios
* Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam
Science
* Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn
* ''Hyp ...
''. Longfellow was conscious of the potential criticism. When sending a copy of the poem to
Bryan Procter, Longfellow wrote: "I hope you will not reject it on account of the meter. In fact, I could not write it ''as it is'' in any other; it would have changed its character entirely to have put it into a different measure." Even Longfellow's wife Fanny defended his choice, writing to a friend: "It enables greater richness of expression than any other, and it is sonorous like the sea which is ever sounding in Evangeline's ear."
As an experiment, Longfellow reassured himself that he was using the best meter by attempting a passage in blank verse. Even so, while looking over the
proofs
Proof most often refers to:
* Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition
* Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength
Proof may also refer to:
Mathematics and formal logic
* Formal proof, a co ...
for a second edition, Longfellow briefly wished he had used a different poetic structure:
The name ''Evangeline'' comes from the Latin word "evangelium" meaning "gospel". The Latin word itself is derived from the Greek words "eu"—"good"—and "angela"—"news".
Prologue
Longfellow does not explicitly title the opening three stanzas as the prologue, but publishers generally treat these lines as such. The poem's story begins with the end. The French farmers and fishermen who once inhabited the colony of Acadie in Nova Scotia are gone, the moss covered trees and the ocean are left to tell the tale.
Critical response
''Evangeline'' became Longfellow's most famous work in his lifetime and was widely read. Contemporary reviews were very positive. A reviewer for ''
The Metropolitan Magazine
''The Metropolitan: A monthly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts'' was a London monthly journal inaugurated in May 1831, originally edited by Thomas Campbell. It was then published by James Cochrane.
''The Metropolitan Magazine'' ...
'' said, "No one with any pretensions to poetic feeling can read its delicious portraiture of rustic scenery and of a mode of life long since defunct, without the most intense delight". Longfellow's friend
Charles Sumner said he had met a woman who "has read 'Evangeline' some twenty times and thinks it the most perfect poem in the language". Other admirers of the poem included King
Leopold I of Belgium. It has been called the first important long poem in American literature.
Influence
Prior to the influence of Longfellow's poem, historians generally focused on the founding of
Halifax (1749) as the beginning of Nova Scotian history. Longfellow's poem shed light on the 150 years of Acadian settlement that preceded the establishment of Halifax.
The Expulsion was planned and executed by the British and
New England authorities. Longfellow omitted from the poem New England's involvement in the expulsion. Through his poem, Longfellow defines America as a place of refuge for the exiled Acadians. Longfellow's account was later challenged by historian
Francis Parkman, in his book ''
Montcalm and Wolfe'' (1884). Parkman claimed the real reason for the expulsion was the "influence" held by the French over the Acadians, particularly by Abbé
Jean-Louis Le Loutre. American historian John Brebner eventually wrote ''New England's Outpost'' (1927), which identified how instrumental New Englanders were in the expulsion of the Acadians.
The poem had a powerful impact in defining both Acadian history and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More recent scholarship has revealed both the historical misconceptions in the poem and the complexity of the Expulsion and those involved, which the poem obscures. For example, Longfellow's poem depicts Acadia as a utopia and the Acadians as a homogeneous and passive people who are incapable of violence, which ignores the efforts of resistance leader
Joseph Broussard and the
extensive military history of the Acadians. The poem also allowed for generations of Protestant
Anglo-Americans to sympathize with the plight of the Acadians while maintaining
anti-Catholic viewpoints. The poem also provided a safe symbolic space for Acadians to develop arguments for more recognition and respect in the United States.
Landmarks and statues
In 1920, at
Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia
Grand-Pré () is a Canadian rural community in Kings County, Nova Scotia. Its French name translates to "Great/Large Meadow" and the community lies at the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley several kilometres east of the town of Wolfville on a ...
, Acadians reconstructed the French church with a statue of Evangeline in the courtyard. Almost a decade later, in 1929, a statue of Evangeline, posed for by silent Mexican film star
Dolores del Río
María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...
, who starred in the 1929 film ''
Evangeline'', was donated to the town of
St. Martinville, Louisiana
St. Martinville (french: Saint-Martin)Jack A. Reynolds. "St. Martinville" entry i"Louisiana Placenames of Romance Origin."LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses #7852. 1942. p. 480. is a city in and the parish seat of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana ...
, by the film's cast and crew. In 1934, the first state park in Louisiana was named the
Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site
Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site (french: Site historique d'État Longfellow-Evangeline), located in St. Martinville, Louisiana, showcases the cultural significance of the Bayou Teche region. It is the oldest state park site in Louisiana, ...
.
Felix Voorhies wrote the book ''Acadian Reminiscences: The True Story of Evangeline'' and other later works of fiction expanded upon the material of the poem, claiming the "real names" of the characters had been "Emmeline LaBiche" (in Longfellow, her full name is Evangeline Bellefontaine) and "Louis Arceneaux" (in the poem, Gabriel Lajeunesse)
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...
, which supposedly belonged to Gabriel, and the grave of Emmeline in the Perpetual Adoration Garden & Historic Cemetery in St. Martin de Tours Church Square, on Main Street,
St. Martinville
St. Martinville (french: Saint-Martin)Jack A. Reynolds. "St. Martinville" entry i"Louisiana Placenames of Romance Origin."LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses #7852. 1942. p. 480. is a city in and the parish seat of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana ...
(the site having been determined for its convenience by local boosters about the turn of the 20th century). "Evangeline Oak" trees in St. Martinville also lay claim to marking the original meeting place of Emmeline and Louis.
Another site claiming to have relation to the historical figures that ''Evangeline'' was based upon is the Arceneaux House in
Hamshire, Texas
Hamshire ( ) is an unincorporated community in western Jefferson County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Beaumont– Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area and located on State Highway 124 twenty miles southwest of Beaumont. It wa ...
, which is marked by a Texas Historical Marker. The house was given to Mary Gadrac Arceneaux, great-great-granddaughter of Louis Arceneaux by her husband.
Place names
''Evangeline'' has also been the namesake of many places in Louisiana and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. It is also often used as a street name in Acadian communities.
Louisiana
In Louisiana, places named Evangeline include:
*
Evangeline Parish, Louisiana
*
Evangeline, Louisiana, a community in
Acadia Parish where the first oil well in Louisiana was drilled
* Evangeline Hall, a residence hall built in 1936 at
Louisiana State University
Canada
Places named Evangeline in Canada include, for example:
*
Evangeline, Gloucester County, New Brunswick
Inkerman is a civil parish in Gloucester County, New Brunswick, Canada.
For governance purposes it is divided between the Regional Municipality of Tracadie, the Pokemouche 13 Indian reserve, and the local service districts of Evangéline, ...
*
Evangeline-Miscouche
Evangeline-Miscouche is a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Evangeline-Miscouche is a francophone-majority riding.
Members ...
, a rural community in
Prince Edward Island
* Evangeline, a community within
Greater Moncton
Greater Moncton () is a census metropolitan area comprising Moncton, Riverview, and Dieppe in New Brunswick, Canada.
Population
Greater Moncton has a population of 157,717 (2021). Migration is mostly from other areas of New Brunswick (especiall ...
in
Westmorland County, New Brunswick
The Evangeline Trail is a historic route in
Nova Scotia that traces the
Annapolis Valley, ancestral home of the Acadians. The scenic trail is lined by more than a dozen small Acadian villages, running from
Grand-Pré, site of the first expulsions, south to
Annapolis Royal near the
Habitation at Port-Royal, historic site of the original French settlement in North America. The Evangeline Trail ends in
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries.
History
Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regio ...
on the southwest coast.
Film
There have also been numerous film adaptations of the poem ''Evangeline''.
''Evangeline'' was the first Canadian feature film, produced in 1913 by Canadian Bioscope of Halifax. It was shot in the Annapolis Valley and at Grand-Pré. In 1919,
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He w ...
made
a film based on the poem for
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. It was suggested by and starred his wife
Miriam Cooper
Miriam Cooper (born Marian Cooper; November 7, 1891 – April 12, 1976) was a silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including ''The Birth of a Nation'' and ''Intolerance'' for D. W. Griffith and ''The Honor System'' a ...
. The film was one of the duo's biggest hits but is now
lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
. In 1929,
Edwin Carewe
Edwin Carewe (March 3, 1883 – January 22, 1940) was an American motion picture director, actor, producer, and screenwriter. His birth name was Jay John Fox; he was born in Gainesville, Texas.
Career
After brief studies at the Universities of ...
made
a film version starring
Dolores del Río
María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...
, shot in Louisiana and accompanied by a theme song written by
Al Jolson and
Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...
.
The poem was mentioned in the 1987 film ''
Angel Heart'', starring
Mickey Rourke and
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
. ''Evangeline'' is also referenced in the 2009 Disney film ''
The Princess and the Frog'', wherein a Cajun firefly named Raymond falls in love with Evangeline, who appears as a star. Following his death, they are reunited and appear side by side in the night sky.
Music and musical theatre
''Evangeline'' has been the subject of numerous songs:
* A popular song in French titled "Evangeline" was written in 1971 by
Michel Conte
Michel Conte, born Michel Seunes, (Villeneuve-sur-Lot 17 July 1932 – 5 January 2008) was a French born, naturalized Canadians, Canadian choreographer, lyricist and composer of film music and television music.Louise Laplante. ''Compositeurs canadi ...
. Originally sung by Isabelle Pierre, a version performed by Annie Blanchard won the
ADISQ
ADISQ (french: Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video; eng, Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries, link=yes) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the indepen ...
award for most popular song in 2006.
*
Robbie Robertson
Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...
of
The Band wrote the song "Evangeline", performed with
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
. In his lyrics, Evangeline is a girl from
the Maritimes who awaits her absent lover in Louisiana, but the storyline and time period differ from Longfellow's original. Another Robertson song, "
Acadian Driftwood
"Acadian Driftwood" is a song by the Band. It was the fourth track on their sixth studio album '' Northern Lights – Southern Cross'' (1975), written by member Robbie Robertson. Richard Manuel, Levon Helm and Rick Danko trade off lead vocals a ...
" from 1975, was also influenced by Longfellow's poem.
* A half-hour suite of guitar music by guitarist and composer
Loren Mazzacane Connors, based on scenes in the Longfellow story, was released as a compact disc titled ''Evangeline'' (RoadCone, 1998), with a title track vocal by Suzanne Langille.
* Indie folk artist Tony Halchak released an EP titled ''A Tale of Acadie'' in 2011, based on the poem but told from Gabriel's point of view.
The poem was first adapted into a theatrical musical in 1874, as ''
Evangeline; or, The Belle of Acadia'', which was a
Broadway success through the late 19th century.
The Canadian folk singer-songwriter
Susan Crowe
Susan Crowe is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She was the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards English songwriter of the year and has been nominated for two Juno Awards.
Career
Crowe's interest in music began when her father and mother enrolled ...
mentions the "statue of Evangeline" in her song "Your One and Only Life", the first track on an album entitled ''The Door to the River'' released in 1996.
A 1999 adaptation by Paul Taranto and Jamie Wax, ''
Evangeline: The Musical'', resulted in a 1999 cast album, and a
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
production of this version was broadcast in 2000 by
PBS.
A 2013 musical adaptation, by Canadian
Ted Dykstra
Ted Dykstra is a Canadian playwright and actor.
He was born in Chatham-Kent, Ontario in 1961 and grew up in St. Albert, Alberta.
He is a founding member of Soulpepper Theatre Company.
Writing credits include '' Two Pianos Four Hands'', '' ...
, premiered in
Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
, Prince Edward Island, and was revived in 2015 in Prince Edward Island and in Alberta at
Edmonton's
Citadel Theatre. The production featured
Brent Carver as the father.
An opera based on ''Evangeline'', composed by Colin Doroschuk, debuted in 2012 in reduced concert form, and was first performed in full in 2014 at Opéra-Théâtre de
Rimouski.
Doroschuk had previously been a member, with his brothers, of the Canadian pop band
Men Without Hats.
[
]Edmonton Opera
Edmonton Opera is a professional Canadian opera company in Edmonton, Alberta, which performs in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium with its Opera Centre located at 15230 128 Ave in northwest Edmonton. The Opera Centre is home to a box office, ...
's Brian Deedrick directed an original musical version of ''Evangeline'', written by playwright Winn Bray and composer Tom Doyle, in Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
, Alberta, Canada, for the Mount Royal College theatre, in 2000.
The poem was mentioned by the band Highly Suspect in the closing song of their 2022 album "The Midnight Demon Club". The song is titled Evangeline after the poem, and mentions the characters: "Call me Gabriel and you're my Evangeline"
Other
* The opening phrase of the poem, "This is the forest primeval", has entered the cultural lexicon.
* The Evangeline League operated as a minor-league baseball circuit (primarily in Louisiana) in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
* A depiction of Evangeline from Longfellow's poem was incorporated into the Dominion Atlantic Railway logo along with the text "Land of Evangeline Route". Additionally, there was once a Via Rail train known as the "Evangeline" that ran from Halifax to Yarmouth
Yarmouth may refer to:
Places Canada
*Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia
**Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
**Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
**Yarmouth (provincial electoral district)
**Yarmouth (electoral district)
* Yarmouth Township, Ontario
*New ...
, but it ended in 1990.
* ''L'Évangeline'' was also an important daily newspaper in New Brunswick, from 1949 to 1982.
* Evangeline Downs is a horse racing track located near Lafayette, Louisiana.
* The 1999 musical version of ''Evangeline'' was performed in 2014 at the Conseil Acadien de Par-en-Bas theatre in Tusket, Nova Scotia. An actor travelled from Louisiana to perform the role of Gabriel.
* Historical flaws in the poem (and in the Voorhies work) are revealed, as there is no record of the surnames "LaBiche", "Bellefontaine", nor "Lajeunesse" in any of the censuses taken of the Acadians.[Census Records](_blank)
Incorrect Surnames.
* Carrie Jenkins Harris's final novel ''A modern Evangeline'' (1896) is a nod to the poem.[* ]
References
External links
*
1850 edition of ''Evangeline''
at Google Book Search
Longfellow-Evangeline State Park
in Louisiana
Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada
Audio excerpt read by Layne Longfellow; music by Michael Hoppé
{{Authority control
American poems
Acadian history
Fictional Cajuns
Works about the French and Indian War
Poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poems adapted into films
1847 poems
Characters in epic poems
Epic poems in English