Reading Notes: The Song of Hiawatha Readings A & B

• I like the cadence of this poem
• Longfellow uses a lot of colors as descriptive words and metaphors
• The great warrior is gifted the four winds
• He keeps the great west wind for himself but gives the others to his sons
• One son is gentle and sweet but alone in heaven, (he is the east wind) he spots a lonely maiden and falls in love with her, he wraps her in a really beautifully described caress and brings her into the sky as a star
• The North wind is rash and arrogant
• The South wind is fat and lazy
• The verb and noun agreements are often reversed
• There are usually pairs of adjectives that follow nouns
• especially names
• A star falls and then gives birth to a daughter, the star warns her daughter against the west wind, but the daughter doesn't listen and succumbs to the west wind
• She bears a son of "love and sorrow"
• Hiawatha is referred to as "my Hiawatha" by the narrator 
• Hiawatha becomes a great warrior with magical mittens and moccasins, he sets out to avenge his mother against his father
• "His heart was hot within him, like a burning coal his heart was" 
• Hiawatha is listening to his father's boasts but has not forgotten his transgression
• Hiawatha fights with his father and the west wind promises him a share of his kingdom
• Hiawatha fasted and wrestled with the spirit of life, once he was defeated, the spirit of life gave Hiawatha the gift of corn
• Hiawatha builds a canoe out of the forrest
• Hiawatha and his squirrel friend are fishing on his boat, Hiawatha challenges the king of fishes, Nahma, to see which is stronger
• Nahma swallows Hiawatha and his canoe but then Hiawatha smotes the heart of the fish
• Hiawatha goes to avenge Nokomis's Father (the moon)
• There are serpents guarding the magician
• Wampum-> woven beads
• Hiawatha speaks of Minnehaha, who he has fallen in love with
• "Only this: 'Dear old Nokomis, Very pleasant is the firelight, But I like the starlight better, Better do I like the moonlight!'"
• Each tribe has different gods
• This is an interesting dynamic for a marriage

Bibliography: The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hiawatha. Web Source: Disney