The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1908-02-27


tie measure of Longfellow's Hiawatha
is the same as that of the ancient epic
OF Finland known as the "kalevala' =
had been made by many others before
him. The facts in the case do not JUS
tify the Iowa editors conclusion that
LOngfellow was plagiarist. Everyone
familiar with the subject is aware that
Longfellow freely admitted his indebt-
edneSS to the Finnish epic which was no
greater than the indebtedness of Robert
Burns to the Edinburg poet Robert Fer
gussOn for one of the measures in which
he cast some of his most characteristic
compositions.
Here are two stanzas from Fergus
sons BRAID Claith,' which, in every
day English means broadcloth:
Braid claith lends fouk an unco heeze;
Maks mOny kail-worms butter fees;
Giles mOny a doctor his degrees,
For little skaith.
In short, you may be what you please
WI guild braid claith.
For though We had as wise a snout on
AS Shakespeare or Sir Isaac Newton,
Your judgment fouk wad haze a dout on,
I'll tax my alth
Till they could see We wi a suit on
O. guild braid claith
1t was not plagiarism when Burns
wrote, apropos of an expedition of Grose,
the antiquarian:
Hear Land o. cakes and brither Scots,
From Maidenkirk to Johnny Groat's;
If there's a hole in a your coats,
/ rede you tent it:
chiefs amang We takin notes,
And, faith he'll prent it.
Nor was it plagiarism when Burns
addressed the mountain daisy, which he
had turned up with his plough:
Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower
Thou'S met me in an evil hour;
For | maun Crush amang the stoure
Thy slender stem.
To spare thee now is past my power,
Thou bonnie gem.
Neither was it plagiarism when he
sang:
All hail Religion, maid divine!
Pardon muse sac mean as mine,
Wha, in her rough, imperfect line,
Thus dares to name We.
To criticize fauSe friends o thine
Will ne'er defame We.
That magnificent martial poem by
Burns "Bruces Address to His Army
at the Battle of BannOckburn, is in
stanzas of the following form:
Scots. wha haze wi Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your CORY bed,
Or to glorious victorie!
Obviously this helped John Pierpont
when he wrote "Warren's Address at
bunker Hill, winch DeSlnS:
Stand! the grounds your own, my braves.
Will We give it up to slaves?
VIII We look for greener graves?
Hope We mercy still?
What's the mercy despots feel?
Hear it in that battle peal!
Read it on you bristling steel!
Ask it,-ye who will.
artist. When Tennyson wrote The
Charge of the Light Brigade his words
kept time to the beat of Michael Dray-
toms magnificent lines on 1.-The Battle of
Agincourt." There was more warrant
for charging Tennyson with plagiarism
than there is for putting such an asper-
sion upon Longfellow. Yet no student
plagiarist. What Longfellow did in
''Hiawatha'' was to fit Indian legends
to the measure of the Finnish saga.
Schoolcraft, who had collected the leg
ends, felt much aggrieved, and thought
that Longfellow was indebted not to the
''Kalevala," but to himself for he had
gathered the legends with much labor
in a tour among the American aborig-
ines that brought him into the territory
now occupied by the state of Wiscon-
sin. Schoolcraft published his legends in
a prose volume, for the information of
people who wanted the story of the corn
and the other weird folklore of the
abOrigines just as it came from the lips
Of the red men. But the reading public
preferred it as it was presented by Long
fellow.
There is a difference between pla-
giarism and utilization. Like Burns,
Longfellow utilized. He did not plagiar-
ize Certainly he did not plagiarize the
''Kalevala," though he did adopt his
meter from that ancient model, as he
| frankly said he did. The following is
a specimen Of the ''Kalevala" from the
| translation Of Kate Miner Rabbi, pub
| lished in 1896. There are many English
translations of the ''Kalevala" of earlier
| dates:
Louhi hostess of the North land,
Ancient dame of Sariola,
While at work within her dwelling,
Heard the whips crack on the fenlands
! Heard the rattle of the Sledges;
TO the nOrthward turned her glances,
| Turned her vision to the sunlight,
And her thoughts ran on as follow.
Longfellow was no more initiative of
! the 'Kalevala" than Virgil was of
| Homer or Campbell of Tyrtaeus or Mil
| ton in paradise Lost" of the Dutch
| poet who before Milton wrote produced
| a poem on the same theme.
Wore Out the Snow.
| L \