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Show LONGFELLOW i His "Hiawatha" By MRS. CHRISTEN JENSEN Henry Wadsworth Longfellow touched the levels of everyday life rather than its high peaks. He made his way into the hearts of millions of people who knew little or nothing noth-ing of the greater and more scholarly poets. He spoke from the heart simple everyday messages in a language they understood. There are no great problems in his poems such as Browning presents. He was as optimistic as Browning, but more quiet in stating his optimism. It is not the deep tragic things of life that he portrays, but the more common everyday affairs and ideas. He was the feminine temperament, tempera-ment, while Browning was masculine. Both men are great, and the world is the richer by having many poets of varying moods, than if it had but one or two. Longfellow was born on the 27th of February, in Portland, Me. It was a Puritan town governed by Puritan ideals. When he was a child we are told that dancing was prohibited, and was an offence punishable by law. There were other restrictions, but they left no scars on his' soul as Calvanistic teachings did on the soul of Holmes. Dean at Twenty-two. His childhood and early manhood were uneventful. At twenty-two he was selected to fill the chair of literature at his own college, 1-Jow-doin college. Later he taught at Harvard but before assuming a position posi-tion of such responsibility he studied and travelled in Europe. It was on one of his trips to Europe that he became acquainted with the Finnish Fin-nish epic, the "Kalevala." In its quaint meter Longfellow recognized a music suited to our Indian legends. He copied the meter and something of the manner of the poem. It is not a case of plagarism, as some critics contend, but a case of genius recognizing the adaptability of a poetic form to foreign material. The stories are unlike, though some of the characters, names, and incidents are similar. The "Kalevala" is made up of a number of old songs and stories some of which are said to be at least three thousand years old. The story is located in the northwestern part of Russia, and deals wilh the rivalry and enmity between the Finns and the Lapps. However, despite their quarrels the Finnish heroes often won their brides and possessed themselves with treasures from their northern neighbors. This very old poem was given to the English speaking world by translation less than a century ago. Besides its being the inspiration for "Hiawatha" it has additional interest for us In that it has an intrinsic in-trinsic literacy beauty; it puts us in touch with a distant civilization, and brings home to us poetic forms far down the scale of literary evolution. evo-lution. The one, two, three method prevails throughout the plot and the incidents that make the plot. The repetition may go on to seven and eight until it becomes tiresome. An example or two will illustrate : "Thus he drove one day, a second, Drove upon the third day likewise " If the hero is asked a question he does not care to answer he will evade the question three times and then tell the truth. Story of Myths. It is a story of myths and legends and simple magic. We get intimate inti-mate pictures of the home life of these distant people; incidents of the bath; of the toilet; cooking and feasting; brewing ale; dancing and sleighing; love-making and marriages The atmosphere seems far away and at times unreal, yet o"casior.:!i.'.f one ear-shea a very modern note. It is made up of several stories taken from floating literature, and finally written into a great epic. The Story The "Kalevala." This ancient poem opens with a description of how the world was created. The earth, moon, sun, etc., were created from the broken eggs of a teal bird; the earth was made of the half shell, the sun of the yolk, and the moon of the whites of the egg. The Water-Mother assisted in this, and later completed bays,' harbors, and set the world in order. Some years later to her was born Vainamoinen, the greatest minstrel, the famous singer. Vainamoinen, or Yaino as we may call him for short, planted trees, sowed corn, and was prospered by the gods in all he did. Then he sang songs of sweetness, songs of wisdom, until his fame spread abroad. One day a jealous young man came to Kalevala and challenged Vaino to a song contest. Before the contest was over Vaino by magic, sang his opponent into a swamp up to his neck. The victim begged him to sing his magic words backwards that he might be released. He offered many rewards, but all were rejected until he promised his beautiful sister Aino for Vaino's wife. Now Aiuo's mother is very happy over the prospects of the marriage mar-riage of her daughter with the famous singer, but the young girl is sad. She says she does not like waiting on an old man and mending his stockings. In her grief she wanders away to a lake and is drowned. The mother is heart-broken ; she weeps "first one tear then another" until they swell to streams. "On the ground the streams were flowing And became the source of rivers Thence arose three mighty rivers." and finally cataracts are formed. Truly this is greater weeping than Alice in Wonderland did. Vaino goes to the lake and fishes for his love. He catches a beautiful beau-tiful salmon which is Aino. She tells him she preferred being a fish to being an old man's drudge, flops back into the water and swims away. Vaino's Water-Mother comforts him and tells him to go to the land of Pohja where he will find beautiful maidens. The little Maid of Pohja is an early riser and vety industrious. Each day before the sun was up "From five sheep she shore the fleeces, ,) il Clipped the wool from off six lambkins, C-' " In her loom she wove the fleeces, ' YV? A 9JL-Aiid the whole with care she carded. t , - ' t , V ..After this she washed the tables, -is J ' -a J Swept the wiue c.uended flooring, ' . . i; n , olTlleu with broom of leafy branches, ' ' I ' '' J ' Then the sweepings she collected I J'l P 3 ' In the dust pan made of copper." ' ' - r It is- she who finds Vaino spent and exhausted from his difficult journey. She feeds him and dries his clothes. "And she warmed him and shampooed him, Till she had restored his vigor." Louhi, or the Mistress of Pohja, the little Maid's mother offers him a home, but he wishes to return to his own people. She says if he will forge a Sampo, he may have her daughter in marriage. He says he cannot, can-not, but he has a brother, Ilmarinen, a smith, who can do It. He says his brother is younger and mny please the maiden better. Vaino sets out on his journey homeward and in the woods he comes upon the lovely maid "clad in robes of dazzling lustre." Her beauty overcomes him and he pleads with her to come into his sled, which would be equivalent to a promise to marry him. She tells him she asked a bird about it, saying : "Tell me, O thou little field-fare. Sing thou that my ears may hear it. Whether it indeed is better, Whether thou hast heard 'tis better, For a girl in father's dwelling. Or in household of a husband?" Thereupon, the bird made answer. And the field-fare answered chirping, 'Brilliant is the day in summer. But a maiden's lot is brighter; And the frost makes cold the iron, Yet the new bride's lot is colder. Editor's Note: Mrs. Jensen's article on "How Longfellow Got Hiawatha" will be continued in next week's issue of the Springville Herald. The article is printed in this newspaper especially so that " Springville women who are studying literature under Mrs. Jensen's direction may have the article for use in connection with later study. It is advisable advis-able to clip both installments from the Springville Herald for future reference. |