The Poem
In the Acadian province, in the village of Grand-Pré, live a peaceful farming people who are undisturbed by the wars between the French and British. In a land where there is enough for all, there is no covetousness and no envy, and all live at peace with their neighbors. Benedict Bellefontaine’s farm is somewhat apart from the village. His daughter, Evangeline, directs her father’s household. Although she has many suitors, she favors only one, Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil, the village blacksmith. Gabriel and Evangeline grew up together, and their fathers are friends.
One fall day, while Benedict rests by the fire and Evangeline sits at her spinning wheel, Basil brings word that the men of the village are to meet at the church the next day. They are to be told the plans of the English, whose ships are riding at anchor in the harbor. That night, Benedict and Basil sign the wedding contract that will unite their children. Then, while their fathers play checkers, Evangeline and Gabriel whisper in the darkening room until it is time to say goodnight.
The next morning everyone, including the folk from the outlying districts, comes to the village to hear the announcement the English commander is to make. They wear holiday dress, as if the occasion is one for celebration. At the Bellefontaine farm there is special joy, for with a feast and dancing the family and their guests are celebrating the betrothal of Gabriel and Evangeline. In the afternoon the church bell rings, summoning the men to the church. When they file in, they are followed by the guard from the ship. Outside, the women stand, waiting.
The news the English commander has for the little community renders a crushing blow. By order of the king, their lands, houses, and cattle are forfeited to the British crown, and the entire population of Grand-Pré is to be transported. The men are to consider themselves the king’s prisoners.
The tragic news spreads quickly through the village and to the farm where Evangeline is awaiting Benedict’s return. At sunset she starts toward the church, on her way comforting the downcast women she meets. Outside the church where the men are imprisoned, she calls Gabriel’s name, but there is no answer.
The men are held prisoner for five days. On the fifth day, the women bring their household goods to the shore to be loaded onto boats, and late that afternoon the men are led out of the church by their guards. Evangeline, standing at the side of the road, watches them coming toward her. She is able to comfort Gabriel with the assurance that their love will keep them from harm, but for her father she can do nothing. In five days he has aged greatly.
Basil and his son are put on separate ships, and Evangeline remains on the beach with Benedict. That night, the villagers of Grand-Pré watch their homes go up in flames and listen to their animals bellowing as the barns burn. Turning from the sight, Evangeline sees that her father has fallen dead. She drops in a swoon upon his chest and lies there until morning; then, with the aid of Father Felician, the village priest, the Acadians bury Benedict Bellefontaine by the shore. That day, Evangeline sails with the other exiles.
The scattered exiles from Grand-Pré wander far over the face of North America in search of their friends and family members. Sometimes Evangeline lingers for a while in a town, but always she is driven on by her longing for Gabriel. Looking at unmarked graves, she...
(This entire section contains 1222 words.)
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imagines that one of them might contain her lover. Sometimes she hears rumors of Gabriel’s whereabouts; sometimes she speaks with people who have actually seen and known him, but always long ago. The notary’s son, Baptiste Leblanc, follows Evangeline faithfully and loyally through her years of searching, but she will have no one but Gabriel for a husband.
Finally, a band of exiles rows down the Mississippi River, bound for Louisiana, where they hope to find some of their kinsmen. Evangeline and Father Felician are among them, Evangeline heartened because she feels she is nearing Gabriel at last. Then in the heat of midday, the voyagers pull their craft to shore and lie down to sleep behind some bushes. While they slumber, Gabriel, in the company of hunters and trappers, passes the spot on his way to the West. That evening, when the exiles set out to explore the area, they are welcomed by a prosperous herdsman who turns out to be Basil. Evangeline learns that Gabriel left home that day, too troubled by thoughts of his love to endure the quiet life in his father’s house.
For a time Basil helps Evangeline carry on her search. Leaving his peaceful home in the South, the herdsman and the young woman travel with some other companions to the base of the Ozark Mountains, guided by rumors of Gabriel’s whereabouts. Sometimes, from a distance, they see, or think they see, his campfire, but when they reach the spot, he has already gone on ahead.
One evening a Shawnee Indian woman comes into their camp on her way back to her own people after her husband’s murder by Comanches. In the night, after the others are asleep, she and Evangeline exchange stories. When Evangeline has finished hers, the woman tells the tale of Mowis, the bridegroom made of snow, and the Indian woman who married and followed him, only to see him dissolve and fade with the sunshine. She tells of Lilinau, who followed her phantom lover into the woods until she disappeared forever. Evangeline feels that she, too, is following a phantom.
The next day, Evangeline and her party travel to the Jesuit mission on the western side of the mountains, where they hope to hear some word of Gabriel. A priest tells them that Gabriel went to the north to hunt six days before. It seems certain that he will pass that way on his journey home in the fall, so Evangeline decides to wait at the mission. Basil and his companions return to their homes.
Autumn and winter pass and spring comes, with no news of Gabriel. Finally Evangeline hears that he is camping in the forests of Michigan on the Saginaw River. When she reaches his camp, however, it is deserted and in ruins.
For many years, Evangeline wanders over the country in search of her lover, but always she meets with disappointment. At last, grown gray, her beauty gone, she becomes a Sister of Mercy in Philadelphia, where she has gone because the soft-spoken Quakers remind her of her own people. When pestilence strikes the town, she visits the almshouse to nurse the destitute. One Sunday morning, she sees on the pallet before her a dying old man. It is Gabriel. In his last moments he dreams of Evangeline and Grand-Pré. Trying to utter her name, he dies. Evangeline murmurs a prayer of thanks as she presses her lover to her.
After Evangeline’s death, the lovers lie side by side in nameless graves in Philadelphia. Although they are far from their old home in the north, a few peasants who wander back from exile still keep their story alive.
Places Discussed
*Acadia
*Acadia. French colony in eastern Canada that overlapped the regions that became Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and other areas. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem opens during the time of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), when many French-speaking Acadians fled or were driven out of the region by the British.
*Grand Pré
*Grand Pré. Largest Acadian village in Minas Basin, an inlet on the western shore of Nova Scotia, was the real home of the greatest number of French immigrants to Canada. The poem begins with a description of the lush, fertile valley surrounding Grand Pré, which it depicts as the home of peaceful shepherds and gentle farmers who live in thatched-roofed houses.
*Mississippi River
*Mississippi River. When Longfellow wrote his poem, this great river was the major highway of the United States, transporting goods and people from north to south. As Longfellow’s characters row down the Mississippi, a panorama of America unfolds. Many Acadian families actually traveled down the river searching for places to live. Many settled in southern Louisiana, where their descendants became known as Cajuns.
Bibliography
Arvin, Newton. Longfellow: His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown, 1963. A benchmark study of Longfellow as a man and writer. Devotes a full chapter to an articulate and insightful exploration of Evangeline, including narrative structure, characters, settings, symbols, themes, and verse form. Places the poem squarely in the idyllic tradition.
Chevalier, Jacques M. Semiotics, Romanticism and the Scriptures. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990. The only book-length examination of the poem. Offers a sophisticated and very detailed line-by-line analysis of the prologue and first canto of book 1. Concentrates on scriptural and romantic elements in light of the poem’s role as a variation on the myth of the lost paradise.
Hirsh, Edward L. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1964. Analyzes Evangeline in the context of Longfellow’s other long narrative poems, especially Hiawatha and The Courtship of Miles Standish. Emphasis on Longfellow’s tendency to mythologize his subjects and his preference for pastoral coloring.
Wagenknecht, Edward. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: His Poetry and Prose. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1986. Offers focused analyses of Longfellow’s major works, including a full chapter on Evangeline. Especially valuable in its treatment of Longfellow’s original authorial intentions and his alterations to and expansion of the text. Good notes and suggestions for further reading.
Williams, Cecil B. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Boston: Twayne, 1964. Contains one chapter on Longfellow’s verse narratives, including Evangeline. An adequate introductory treatment of the author’s sources and influences, and the poem’s meter, plot, and critical reception. Argues that Evangeline provides a sentimental journey that even a cynical modern reader may find attractive.
