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xxviii
INTRODUCTION xxi
ing a scene of rural felicity like this, it is not improbable
that his narrative partakes of the warmth of feeling for
which he was remarkable; but it comes much nearer the
truth than is generally imagined."
This account was all that Longfellow knew of actual
life in Acadia. The poet evidently took material from it for
the beginning of Evangeline. But he needed more facts,
and proceeded to draw on his own experience. Though
brief, Haliburton’s description was sufficient to suggest
what sort of a life the people there led, and Longfellow
could scarcely help noting the similarity between it and
that of peaceful Sweden, with which he was acquainted
from actual observation as well as books. When,
accordingly, he began to present Acadian life and scenery in his
poem, he copied—consciously or unconsciously—peasant
life as he knew it in Sweden.
The truth of this statement is manifest from the
following parallel passages taken from the review of Frithiof and
from Evangeline. These extracts need no comment beyond
the remark that they are not meant in every case to show
a close verbal likeness. The similarity of ideas is evident.
In the review Longfellow writes: "Almost primeval
simplicity reigns over this Northern land,—almost
primeval solitude and stillness. You pass out from the gate of the
city, and, as if by magic, the scene changes to a wild,
woodland landscape. Around you are forests of fir. Overhead
hang the long fan-like branches trailing with moss." What
is this in essence but the opening lines of Evangeline?
"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the
hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the
twilight,
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