New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-01-04
"HIAwATHA" AND 'KALEwALA."

"HIAWAIHA AND 'kAlsEN ALA
| 10 ne Editor II The ~ y. 7TibvRc
SIR: The article in your paper of December 20, from
I. G. r., demands perhaps brief reply, which it
, should have had before had il not escaped me.
The writer still plants himself upon the ground that
Mr.. Lcpgfeow is TO blame for not Simplifying where he
got the form Of his poem from. lie does not
assert that the mere similarity Of form" il ground
for charges of plagiarism. Very well-thatS an i'm
provemcnt. Now, if T. c. p. need that he should
have the other poems in the meter pointed out,
We can only say dc gUsbvs, &c. We do not think il
would have been n compliment to his readers If Mr..
Longfcow had written on the frst page of Eyange-
nc-Jhis form Of rcrSe used BY AristOptaRes.
I. c. r. needs to be told that this rhymeess altera
tive troChac has been certainly adopted in ltera-
turc any other, and that Kaewala IS not the only
poem representing this " FORM DIR. Boltz has intro
duccd the old Russian poem, lgors 4" Expedition
against the PoloOts in this dress. II is frequent in
the Bohemian baad-writing. Take this, for Instance
-" Ludisse Lubor." 1t commences:
Znamenaite STAR malsdi
Orotkach sedani, &c.
Old and young, give listen!
Dwell noble by the Klbe stream,
Rich and good and highly honored,
And he had M only daughter.
{" This metre" says writer in The London Atke-
Reum dec. u concerning Hiawatha, ais also very
common in the Serven sheRske pjcsme, or female
songs, many of which have been admirably initiated in
German by Taloj, Gerhardt and kapper Aud turn
ing to the Romance languages, what reader of the
Spanish dramatic poetry can be Ignorant of the fire.
9uency OF Its employment by Calderon and Iope de
Vega
Ii +. C. 7. will read Howtts Literature and Ro-
@ nance of Northern Europe he will that the
structure and much of the Of the Kelewaa have
for some time been before the English reader PeO-
pie not 20 ignorant, perhaps, as the writer would
make out.
Now, is Mr.. Longfellow to announce that he il using
g metle which these have written in Have these
fak. n pafe ont for IN ypr Or do 4
wish TO Introduce into literature the fashion of country
paItons WHO, having given page Of the hymn, tran
late Lo {. NJ, l.. Nj, ). NJ as long, or snort
metre
little question were whether r. c. p has alone real
Kaewala not, his remarks concerning the few slu-
sons uade To- it by LOngfe critics might have been
pertinent. We will say then, that We hare the Kae
waa. Here II il: "kalewala, das Nationa-Epos der
"Fnnen; mach per Zwcten Ausgabe ins Dentscne ubef
"trageD. Won Anton Schiefner. Helsingfors, 1852.
We have not had time to read ii through since il was
drawn to attention by 4. G. P.'s charge; but we
have gone through its fine Beer brewing scene the
Origin of Iron and the Matchmaking scenes with inter-
est; and have certainly read enough to convince
that LongfeOw has not initiated it. Now it il not to
retaate this insinuation 7. c. P but TO elicit the
Truth, that have to complain that he has neglected
two books with an important testimony this subject,
viz; Schoocraft's "hgic Researches" and History
of the Indian Tribes" Had he read these he would
have seen that more philosophic reason must be as
signed for resemblauces between Hiawatha and Kale
wala than knavery on Mr. Longfelows part For in;
on which he dwels with met emphasis:
Forth the egen wainomonen
Moved amid the sails loud rustic
On the boat well bound With copper,
On the metal girded vessel
TO the higher streak OF mainland,
10 the lower verge OF Heaven,
fingered with bis boat there hanging
With his vessel standing yonderi
Yet he left the harp behind him.
Fairest song he left in suomi,
To the JOY Of all the people,
Fairest song SuoInis children"
Now let us compare with this mot Mr. Longfelows
Departure Of Hawaha, butt the Indian Legend itself
IA found in the History of Ind. Tribes Part ill.,,
p 81:
went the shore and assumed his sica
vessel Sweet music heGrdn the air. at the
men and as its cadence oGed IN the ears OF the wondering
the sight and disapPesred in the celestial regions inbab
" tied only by Owaynee and his hosts
Now for LOngf 5;n9C .i.o ye g,;Sa,;,,
Turned and waved his hand at parting
On the clear aud luminous water
Launched his birch canoe for sailing;
Sailed into the fiery sunset,
And the people from the margin,
Watched him floating rising sinking.
Til the birch canoe seemed lifted
High into that sea OF spendoT,
Till it sank into the yspors,
Like the moon slowly, slowly
Sinking in the purple distance
Now. Think that T. c. p. will see that if there is
any lecture to be read should be to the Indians for
DlaelarZng IRON the Flnis, anu nOt
iulness TO their legend. The Putnam reviewer who
thinks he sees the supreme Caucasian mind in this
doubtless meant to compliment Mr.. LOngfelows
beautiful rendcring-Mr. L. being Il Caucasian; but
if be meant TO charge plagiarism we invite him also
TO read the Algc Researches.
With reference to the new extract which i. {. r.
gives, he will find that where the similarity OF the
boat buildng passages are not in form, or in the dis
position which the Firms, and many other nations have
in common with Indaps, to personally trees and other
natural ohiects-there Is none at all. The similarity
here is: l. The trees addressed and reply III both
as persons and for the purpose of obtaining them for
the boats @ The boats made of the trees.
Now for the first, Mr.. LongfelOw is not responsible
for the boat-making and the personifcations of
trees are Indian; for the second it may be remarked,
boats are very apt to be made of trees.
The differences that in IIiawatha all the trees
are asked for something special which they gvethe
birch its bark the cedar its bOughs, &c. In kalewaa
all the trees refuse to be made into the boat declaring
their wood is not good; the oak alone yielding.
We are willing to admit much in all national eplcs
which is similar. The animals of one latitude are very
similar whether in Finland America; the thoughts
and superstitions NAV be also-and are. Something
answering to each common mechanic implement in
one country will be found in every oher-h not OF
STEEL of wood. Was the Indian arrow an "imta-
ron of the Eastern spear because 1t has the same
form and purpose The fault of /. g. r. Is IN taking
literary rather than philosophc view OF both OF these
questions; otherwise the smlarties he mentions would
not have excited him more than that Hiawatha ana
Wainomoinen should both have had feet and hands,
at have heel moved