New-York daily tribune., 1856-04-23
4 GERMAN CRITICISM on HfAHATH4.
We translate the following from the commence
mont Of a criticism in Dos husband


ment of criticism in Das husband
"IoDpfelow's epic is undoubtedly the most consd
cradle poem which has appeared for years in the
English language. Its success has been une1ampied
on both sides Of the Atlantic In London the book has
been twice reprinted and although We ordered it i'm
mediately after its publication were only able to
secure copv of the fourth edition. 1t was certainly
aboppy thought 10 gather the legends Of the tawny
hborigines Of North America together IN great poem
The Aztec and Peruvian legends and above all, those
Of the Muyscas or Chibchas might be used with simi-
lar if not with greater Longfelow has des-
jopsted the sources from which he derives these
legends The works Of schOolcrah, Catn, Hecke-
weder and Others furnished him with these sgnc ant
and noetically beautiful tradition. Of the abo-
rio;nes. He has lad no need to invent he
has merely selected the finest of these, and
strung them on tie loose thresds of his poem.
He himself calls his work an Indian Edda. Tho ex-
pression is not indeed particularly modest, but on the
whole il il not uniting. He who Is familiar with the
relipious ideas of the red man will find the book
wonderfully true and he who has never explored the
yearn of Indian legends is offered in this poem
olinpse into new soul world full OF lovely, primitive
noetrv. II Is well known that the Indians have an
extraordinary appreciation Of the beauties OF nature.
Their names for rivers lakes, mountains, and all
natural objects are thoroughly poetic The clouds in
the ky the roaring waterfall the ard the stars,
tbe lofy trees and the fruitful maize and particularly
,he beasts Of the forest and the birds of the air,
were believed by them 10 be beings possessing
souls. They are living in the beautiful age when
there is still faith that man understand nature, and
he understood by her, and hold converse with his
brotLers in the forests and the bushes. 1t Is mis-
fortune that we have acquired the habit of dismem-
being our own legends and those Of other nations IN
order TO seize upon the soul Of the living myth by
a sort of comparative anatomy. In this way we los
its HIGHEST attraction Anything in which there Is
pay for the imagination becomes one OF the dry bone
Of erudton. And 80 LOngfeIow poem ends rathe
pspdly with the appearance OF Europeans in America
when the prediction ofthe prophet Hiawaha Is uhled
bv the arrival of missionaries in the New World lie
who possesses any knowledge of ethnography will
rot be pleasantly affected by the Interviewing
Of love story The sexual sentimentahty
which has manifested itself only within the last
thousand wears, and only among the lndo-Germamc
nations is more than superuous to the lndIan-it Is
contrary TO bis nature The English literary press
has long been discussing whether Longielow was the
inventor of the meter of Iiawaha. 1t is troctAic,
ending with spondee and contains four feet. The
invention however, is poorly worth the discussion.
ANYBODY who has read the five thousand and odd
verses of Hawatha has certainly had enough OF this
epic meter, which very soon becomes as tiresome to
the ear a. the tune of barrelOrgan. II would have
been far better to vary the meter according to the tenor
Of the poem for certainly this vein is not suited to
every theme-to the address of the Great Spirit to the
Red Nations, and at the.ssme time to a love
episode and the dscourses of acorns and singing
birds in the boughs. Besides, Longfellow Is
bv no means a master in versfcaon. There are lines
in which considerable guessing Is required to divine
the meter, and throughout the book at the end OF
almost every line grammatical member of the SEN
tence is omitted in such way that the point falls OF
the same place with the casura, which renders the
division Of the lines already too perceptible through
tie leaden spondees, still more rsufferabe.'