New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-01
Z" HIAWATIIA" AND "KALE IYALA.a
FROM n, National Iu..lRgene~. Sov. q.


MEssEs. EpIToRs: OF 81 charges tina, cs' be made
az al 81 sn author the graves. is that OF plagiarism
II il the same in its bearing ca his character az man,
ro alone an author, A. oraery; Tor an su'1or has
' at only = Etsrary interest in his work.. ls his
sooh in trade: and 10 take the work OF anOthers fac
mites and publish t - hs own, IS nothing ess than
f,lkod and dsh0s1ag IL will IA Al once seen that
sucn charge should NOT b. mace wlthou, sufficient
evoexca 90 support ". The ulAo against Wh9m sucn
chsrse il sustained nus, forever be excluded the So
ciety o. honorable men, While snong the h,ersry one
sugle rst,nce rains all his other work lie mus be,
Ike Cs'ser's ~if- 4" above suspicion.'
These remarks are suggested By a communication
in The Infei,esnc Of the 26 instant, seeking 20 e.
ishlish asinlaIIty between the kaewais 81 FINLAND
800 Mr.. Lcngiell Inciau epic, Hlara ha.
Tie get ot The communication "a coniAioed "a 10 con-
clucsn2 'epteuce-the THdiaa Epic (HlarqtkG) IS az
tmit0fi0n-pOt "a creation.
Now, il nay be irt STATED ths; 70 sssud CONS 20
such inqncs -is 'hs eApvi, tios - very strong
6nscetsht iHprsoatii,v OF Losgieltsv's hAriE iai.
isted sny usi- ~fui cay raOnal epic " any great
poem, view 30 oSly Al mater o. policy, Z, T.. T. Is
mtshes in suggesting. Tn, outset Of his letter nat
feg Of ul have heard OF, such le's rssi, e.. Fia-
nisn POEM; and especially in I've neSnsornooa where
Lore gc,,oE restless, 70 eat isrize from such poem
youd be svi.ice. II s familiar mat there is Larry.
pumb-f 81 G, etemen 10 that vicinity Whole csnsi,nt
eznplo, ne ut collec, ;he scriptures ana epcs of
a.. %. ,ous 10, gisllo would 30 snnils 10 the Gear
5sy!ieht Of cicknors superb library ssd ia ts sery
ntucepher- Of Emerson. iron Tson II IS snown that
living Or de.d, bu he
" -be sscs-f oft stone,
Lisls sen OF Solomon,
vill find Il. Yhcre src aozsn men st Cambridge
VINE would deiecs il instsnty Let us see thsn, wat
evidence there is tIat Lopsfe;low ass vedtuted on
fueh perOue tricks; rsns errsd the ertre fora,
s,irt srd many II the most striking Mcd, s, Of the
Old f., nis2 esic to me North American Indiana
Now L. G.. u. has glyea evde ce of tbis in his
article and should rot nave naae tue charge without
giving Il. He quotes from the prelad-s OF tue two
poems: but with the exception OF the Las.iy OF form
whica ground Tor such Charge, shall say
more eseuy, there is 10 relationship between them.
Both of thsm mOCele, as they shouid be, on The
sye which the moDesDseIs and minshols OF oil lands
have always used--s precedent 70 which the HALE
1ala IL Alec indebted eny one may see By readog
TIE ctlauCi3 SGgGs or G9nunds EddG. The min
stf, only iepeais the hs myt0c sources Of the events
10 celebrates which usually ase in the end asonbed to
som. mysterious communlngs With icress, birds. and
aim ais. Let 8Dy take the passages from the tso
poem, cited by T. G. y. ana he will see tbst the DULY
similarity 10 in the sOim. The spirit must have SONS
iceprty, because both begin song of past traditions
ano heroic schievemtn ts but they have no more re-
ser bance 70 each other than both have to the Argo
pautics OF Oreheus the ancient German Helden-
buch or Book of Heroes
C. y. finds thar Maipam0inen reeembes in his
birth mission and departure Hawatha That is not
L0Dgielows fault Because similar legends arise in
Finland America of person OF miraculous birth
who came 20 benefit mankind 10 the way they think
bert il no reason Why poet should be accused OF
imitation because that does not restrain his Use OF ths
tradition be fines il. We might as we'll accuse tao
Eimeh epic of having plagiarized from the history
OF Moses who benefited lrael and went to the top Of
Pneab and was no more heard of or Elijah, Who
dd the sane, and was SAID 10 have been translated;
or of Hector, or Achilles. Because there 70 9 re-
,emhlance between the Latin myth of DeucaOn and
p, rrhs, and that of the Noacban deluge did Ovid
Decees ariy borrow from eco the Pentateuch
1t only shows that man hiss common nature in
every sense. And the real value of oaooa ep'cs Is,
that there never pas rrittcp true TO me 6ge"ds
and pytls a. celebrated phich did not resemble IN
many respects all Tie rest.
The Only incident which T. c. P. places beside an
other with di ectIess s the similarity OF the departure
of Bia va ha snd Wainam0ioen Tie passage 10 which
the story OF the latter Is told is eft uader cover OF the
German; but lest some one ignorant Of that tongue
should imsgine that there more Ia the statement
than there s will give hasy translation OF the two
verses and then give the passage from Hawaiha;
The sails filed by toe ru,bisg Wind,
Bear forth the AGED WlLanonen,
H. the boat weLbound With copper,
Up where the hishsst lsnd-strest stretches,
Up where the lowest heaven descendethi
where the boat seems held between them,
In the boat that up there psssea
Yet he behLa doth lesvs The hap
Leaves sweet masc la suomi,
sinsns 20 people o. e s st n,ppy, ,,s,.,y
Here is the description of Hiswathas departure:
"On the shore ,,oos Hiswstos
Turned md waved bis bsnd a. psrtipsi
Lsunshed bis birch for ssii1g;
From pc bbles Ct tbs arsin
Whsp. red 70 it Westward! westward"
And with speed IL dartel forward
Ard the evening san descending
Set the clouds ON tre with rednsss,
Burned the broad * like grades
Lett upon the level water
0 One l.ss tI.oa .as tr. 81 .plen1~
Westward westSsrd, 6iswaths
Sailed into the fiery sunset
Sailed 10 he purple
ssilsd into the dasi Ofsvenins
And the people fro n tbs margin
Watched him aostins nsins. sinking,
Till the birch caeos sesmed lifted
High into that ses Of spl7ndor,
TIL IL sank into the vApors
Lke the new moon, so.ly, so~J
Sinking in the purple distance"
Now, confess cannot see that there is anything
in common here ercept that both cent III ~ a boat;
and resl unless T. c. p. has some better reason for
accusing Longfeow Of plagiarism than thet !. is dg-
gins in very hard soil for stone to cast 81 him. In
tact IL il absurd
A casual reader might, however, be deceived IN ono
respect BY the citations made in this article OF your
PeDDsy wanna correspondent Iamely, the form or
,ythns OF the two is alike and reading them over
swiftly one Is opt to suppose similarity when LIES ne
deeper than the mechanical part Of the poem: BI a
similarity Of form style is no piagrartsm. 30
cause Goethe's Hermann and Dorothes OF Lopgel
lows Evapgeine aud several modern Eognh poems
are written IN texameers they servils intaors Oh
the GreeA poets Who introduced that measure Tsefe
are OILY definite number of meters in which poet
can write and re.ry every post of standing has writ
ten something in every one of these meters; and 70
say that thus to have be form Of another poem Ell
d.rce Of plagiarism is an unworthy thing for man Of
sense 10 say. 1t would place under the ban every poet
except the earliest.
IL the present instance il was highly proper ina.
Mr. Lon, fellow should have adopted the style when
grew probably from that of the minnesiDsers Of Ger.
many and the southern minstrels, In which 90 many
lesei DIS veil told which bear the same relation
most sgree.ble style for long poem There can
properly be 10 plsg isrsm except OF ideas or Hu'rs
tiOns.