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[Jan. 28th, 2026|11:23 pm] |
Evangeline was both one of his most popular works during his lifetime, and his most controversial. Longfellow chose to write the poem in dactylic hexameter, which is the meter used by Homer and others of the Greek and Roman eras.
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
[...]
Harvests were gathered in; and wild with the winds of September
Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of old with the angel.
All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement.
Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded their honey
Till the hives overflowed; and the Indian hunters asserted
Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the foxes. |
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