Riassunto
Riassunto di Evangeline
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love stories of love and loss set against real history, and for anyone curious about the Acadians. Themes of exile, faith and steadfast devotion give Evangeline’s search its heart.
Che cos’è questo libro
Evangeline is a long narrative poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1847. It tells of a young woman in the Acadian farming village of Grand-Pré, in what is now Nova Scotia. Her life is broken in 1755, when British forces order the French-speaking Acadians out of their homes. Longfellow heard the outline of the tale from a friend, and he turned it into a poem of two parts, a prologue and many short sections.
The poem gives you a love story, a piece of real history and a long walk across a continent. You meet a village at peace, a sudden act of state power and a search that lasts a lifetime. You also meet a rolling, unusual verse line that carries the whole story along. In the first key point, we begin where Longfellow begins, in the green and quiet world of Grand-Pré.
In questo riassunto
- 1Grand-Pré is a village at peaceFree
- 2A betrothal is signed under a darkening sky
- 3The church becomes a trap
- 4Evangeline begins her long search
- 5Faithfulness and loss are what the poem is about
- 6A long line and a landscape tell the story
Punto chiave 1 di 6
Grand-Pré is a village at peace
The poem opens with a long look at the land. A forest of pines and hemlocks stands near the sea, and below it lie the meadows of Grand-Pré, held back from the tides by dikes the farmers built. The Acadians are French-speaking Catholics, and Longfellow shows them as honest, simple and close to each other. Doors have no locks, because there is nothing to fear and nothing to hide.
At the center of the village stands the farm of Benedict Bellefontaine, a rich and respected farmer who is old now and a widower. His daughter Evangeline is seventeen. She is the light of his house, and she is known for her kindness and for her calm, clear eyes. Young men of the village look at her, but her heart belongs to one of them.
He is Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil, the village blacksmith. Basil is an old friend of Benedict, and the two families have long hoped for this match. Longfellow shows the children growing up together, with Gabriel helping Evangeline and the old smith watching over them both. Their love has the ease of something that was always going to happen.
Longfellow wants you to love the village before it is threatened. Every field, every church bell and every harvest evening is a small piece of what will be lost.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Evangeline Bellefontaine
- A gentle young woman of Grand-Pré, she is Benedict's daughter and Gabriel's devoted bride-to-be.
- Gabriel Lajeunesse
- The son of the village blacksmith, he is Evangeline's beloved and her promised husband.
- Benedict Bellefontaine
- Evangeline's father is a prosperous farmer who trusts royal justice and welcomes her marriage to Gabriel.
- Basil Lajeunesse
- Gabriel's father is the outspoken village blacksmith, Benedict's friend, and a supporter of their children's match.
- Father Felician
- The village priest blesses Evangeline and Gabriel's betrothal and counsels his parishioners toward patience and forgiveness.
- Leblanc the notary
- The village notary prepares Evangeline and Gabriel's marriage contract and entertains their gathering with tales.
Questions about Evangeline
What is Evangeline about?
It is a narrative poem about Evangeline, an Acadian girl who is separated from her betrothed, Gabriel, when the British force the Acadians from their homes in 1755. She spends years searching for him.
Is Evangeline a true story?
The poem is fiction, but it rests on a real event, the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia that began in 1755. Longfellow published it in 1847, after hearing the outline of the tale from a friend.
Who are the Acadians?
The Acadians were French-speaking settlers in Acadia, a region of eastern Canada that includes Nova Scotia. After the British forced thousands of them out, many scattered, and some settled in Louisiana, where their descendants are called Cajuns.
What is dactylic hexameter in Evangeline?
It is a long poetic line with six beats, each usually a stressed syllable followed by two light ones. Longfellow borrowed it from classical poetry to give the poem a rolling, wave-like rhythm without rhyme.
Is Evangeline hard to read?
The story is simple and told in order, and the language is clear.