Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introduction
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
INTRODUCTION
xxiii
tude. The latter would be still farther increased should the
Herr Professor think something in it worthy of translation.
My edition of Frithiof accompanies this letter.
With high regard and affection,
The Herr Professor’s humble servant,
Es. Tegner"
Longfellow’s review of Frithiof is of importance in itself
because, so far as I have been able to find out, it is the
first public notice in the United States, not only of
Tegner, but of Scandinavian literature. Yet noteworthy as the
review is in this connection, it has even more interest and
value. Obviously, it shows how sincerely the American poet
appreciated Tegner. It also shows that the beginning of
Longfellow’s most popular and perhaps his greatest poem,
Evangeline, is fundamentally Scandinavian; for when
Longfellow is describing the scenery, the customs, and the people
of Acadia, he is simply describing Sweden. Since this fact
has never before been noticed, sufficient data to establish
its validity are here presented.
Longfellow, according to his brother’s statement,* never
visited Acadia. After he became acquainted through
Hawthorne’s friend, the Rev. H. L. Conolly, with the story of
the lovers, separated when the British scattered the
inhabitants of Grand Pre in promiscuous exile, he consulted
books for material. For Acadia, we are told, f he read only
Haliburton’s book on Nova Scotia, J which he found in
*Samuel Longfellow, of. cit., II, 71. f Ibid., II, 71.
J T. C. Haliburton, An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia,
Halifax, 1829, I, 170-173. — P. Morin came to the conclusion, after examining
numerous works which he thought might contain origins for the Acadian
scenes, that Haliburton was the main source for the first part of Evangeline.
See his Sources de TCEuvre de Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paris, 1913.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
