Prologue from Evangeline

Dark Forest. Ivan Shishkin. 1890.

 

Prologue

from Evangeline, 1847

Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

 

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.

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

 

This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers,—

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands,

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven?

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed!

Scattered like dust and leaves when the mighty blasts of October

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o’er the ocean.

Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pré.

 

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient,

Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman’s devotion,

List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest;

List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy.

2 thoughts on “Prologue from Evangeline”

  1. When I read Evangeline, I did not want to continue after reading the prologue because it was so beautiful! I wanted to keep reading the beginning over and over and fully capture and saturate it! It is my favorite part! The best of Longfellow! I can just see the “hemlocks bearded with moss”! Love the imagery!

    1. Evangeline was the first poem I really loved. Lines from the prologue were quoted in a children’s book about Caroline Ingalls, and I loved them so much I asked Mama to find the entire poem. She printed out a hundred pages that I read again and again before I bought the beautiful Goose Lane edition.

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