The poem shaped for generations of Americans an impression of "accurate" native American culture. It has been criticized as cultural appropriation, claiming to be true to Native American history yet in reality, freely adapted and envisioned through a Euro-American lens. ![]() ![]() The poem, part of the American Romantic movement of the mid 19th century, uses a European view of American Indian life to craft a story that attempts to be universal. "O my children! my poor children! Listen to the words of wisdom, Listen to the words of warning, From the lips of the Great Spirit, From the Master of Life, who made you! "I have given you lands to hunt in, I have given you streams to fish in, I have given you bear and bison, I have given you roe and reindeer, I have given you brant and beaver, Filled the marshes full of wild-fowl, Filled the rivers full of fishes: Why then are you not contented? Why then will you hunt each other? "I am weary of your quarrels, Weary of your wars and bloodshed, Weary of your prayers for vengeance, Of your wranglings and dissensions All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together. In this section of "The Song of Hiawatha," the Great Spirit calls together the nations with the smoke of a peace-pipe and then offers them the peace-pipe as a custom to create and maintain peace among the nations. Since the theme of the story is two peoples coming together, a sort of Romeo and Juliet plus King Arthur story set in pre-colonial America, the theme of the peace-pipe establishing peace among the native nations leads into the more specific story of individuals. This is the first section from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's borrowing and reshaping of indigenous tales, creating a story of the love of Ojibwe Hiawatha and Delaware Minnehaha, situated on the shores of Lake Superior. This poem, part of the longer epic narrative poem "The Song of Hiawatha," tells an origin story of the peace-pipe of the indigenous Americans from (shortly) before the European settlers arrived. Wooing of Hiawatha - Currier and Ives based on Longfellow. Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men! It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men! Before that cry of despair and answering cry of hope, and after verses describing the long years of hearing of "peace on earth, goodwill to men" (a phrase from the Jesus birth narratives in the Christian scriptures), Longfellow's poem includes, describing the black cannons of the war: The original also included several verses referring specifically to the Civil War. ![]() The verses which he included and are still generally included, speak of the despair of hearing the promise of "peace on earth, goodwill to men" when the evidence of the world is clearly that war still exists.Īnd in despair I bowed my head "There is no peace on earth," I said "For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!" Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men." ![]() Longfellow wrote this on Christmas Day in 1863, after his son had enlisted in the Union's cause and had returned home, seriously wounded. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in the middle of the Civil War, wrote this poem which has more recently been adapted as a modern Christmas classic. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, New York, 1865.
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