MytholAmericaogizing
Many of Longfellow's long narrative poems contribute to the mythologizing of the American frontier, perhaps none more effectively than Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie. Part Two of that narrative alludes to ancient myths to to enhance Evangeline’s desperate attempt to track down the fiancé from which she was separated by British intrusion. In a manner of speaking, it is enough to suggest that Evangeline’s trek becomes something of a retelling of the Odyssey with gender reversal at the heart of its narrative as it stands in comparison to a less strictly realized version of the Iliad as Part One. Evangeline searches for Gabriel down in what would become the Cajun (Acadian) stronghold of the Louisiana swamps and from there to even more savage wilderness out west before heading east again. Finally her Odyssey comes to a close in Philadelphia—the City of Brotherly Love—where Evangeline becomes a Sister of Mercy and Gabriel is a poor man dying of Yellow Fever in an almshouse.
The Power of Creative Writing on Shaping the Historical Narrative
A visit to the act Old North Church and the subsequent composition of his poem Paul Revere's midnight journey taking off from there reveale to Longfellow the full impact that the creative writing process could have on the the undertanding of historical accounts. BWhile adhering fairly closely to the paltry known facts of Revere’s ride, the poem was destined to come under criticim for creating the myth that Revere was the only midnight rider that fateful night. The fact that William Dawes and Samuel Prescott also took to their steeds to ride through the countryside warning colonists that the British were coming yet are not nearly the towering figures of American Myth as Revere is a testament to the popularity of Longfellow personally, as well as the power of creative writing to form and shape the historical narrative.
Heroism is a Choice Made During Strife
Longfellow's popular adventure narratives in verse feature some of the first native-born American heroes in literary history. From Evangeline to Paul Revere to Hiawatha, those who ride the tide of history into the sphere of heroism do so because of a conscious choice to fully experience life even at its most trouble moments because finding meaning in life cannot be properly or adequately done if one chooses merely to be a supporting player in their own life. To live is to choose to be the hero of one’s own story.
Sentimentality
Longfellow’s publisher was wildly enthusiastic about publishing "The Children's Hour." A portrait of Longfellow’s three daughters who are the child characters in the poem was widely distributed to help the familial tone of the poem strike home. Thanks to the distribution of that family portrait, Allegra, Alice and Edith Longfellow became three of the most recognizable children in America.The poem’s great success upon publication carried through into the next century as “The Children’s Hour” went on to become one of the most anthologized poems by one of America’s most anthologized writers. As the new century wore on and taste in poetry changed and experimentation trumped emotion, this poem in particular gained Longfellow a reputation for oversentimentality that turned the tide against his entire output, unfairly castigating most of his work in a way that really only applies to this poem and a select few others.
