Part the First:
Canto I
Canto II
Canto III
Canto IV
Canto V
Part the Second:
Canto I
Canto II
Canto III
Canto IV
Canto V
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Evangeline
A Tale of Arcadie
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
from the 1893 Cambridge Edition
(Originally published in 1847)
- 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.
to Part I, Canto I.
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