The Song Of Hiawatha By Henry Longfellow

The title of the epic poem that I have read is “The Song of Hiawatha” written by Henry Woodsworth Longfellow. The two tonal words that describe the way the author wrote this poem would be vivid and eloquent. I would use these words because all around this poem you can see how the author is very descriptive, even at such simple things as a cradle in lines 13-15. The plot revolves around Hiawatha, a Native American from the Onondagan Group, and his journey from a baby to child to man. Throughout the poem Hiawatha develops a strong bond with animals, enough to call them brothers, His conflict comes when Iagoo, the storyteller of the group, makes Hiawatha a bow and tells him to kill a roebuck in order for him to become officially, a man, in his
He describes everything directly from his point of view making you feel like you are there. An example of connotation in the beginning of the poem is the way Hiawatha uses the word heaven twice to signify a peace in the after-life. He learns it form his grandmother Nokomis, who he considers to be very wise to him. He also uses the word firefly as a connotation. In lines 42-44 and 48-53 Hiawatha explains how fireflies mean a light in the darkness, or a way out of the darkness. Later in the poem the phrase “And his heart within him fluttered, Trembled like the leave above him,” on lines 143-144, it connotes that the roebuck was nervous or scared, knowing it will soon be killed by Hiawatha’s bow and it gives you a deeper sense of what the roebuck felt with its description. My last example of connotation is in line 156 “Like a wasp it buzzed and stung him,” this line is connoting the arrow’s force and how much it hurt the roebuck. This comparison of a arrow to a wasp is very clear, as a arrow is quick and painful, so is the sting of a wasp. The thing these connotations have in common is the level of detail that the author put into each and every
The opening sentences in line 1 and 2 describe the setting of Hiawatha’s birth, by the shining Big-Sea-Water meaning the water was clean and beautiful. Also in the beginning of the poem we can find another example of imagery, between lines 13-15 the author describes the cradle’s exact building materials and how the cradle felt to Hiawatha. In the later pages of the poem we can see more and more imagery being used to describe the settings like in between lines 136-142 describe the setting in which Hiawatha sees the roebuck and prepares for the kill. I love the effort used to describe the forest, because no detail is left out. This all ties in with my tone word vivid because it describes producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind, and that is exactly what it