The Song Of Hiawatha Xi: Hiawatha's Wedding-feast Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABAABCCCADEABFDGDHD GBIIJHAJKAIDGGCLCAJA AIACBIDAAAAADMAACDIA ADIIAAINABAAAGGJAGGI GAACDGAAAIAIBAAACCAG CCAIJJCJGCAIJIIOAHAJ BIDAALAAABADMACGBLCA IIDBDDDJABBBDDGIDDAA IIAIIIAAAABDDDIMABDD AGJJAIAABDDBDDDBADIA DDIIIAABDIDDDBABMDLG ADADDIBDAYou shall hear how Pau Puk Keewis | A |
How the handsome Yenadizze | A |
Danced at Hiawatha's wedding | B |
How the gentle Chibiabos | A |
He the sweetest of musicians | A |
Sang his songs of love and longing | B |
How Iagoo the great boaster | C |
He the marvellous story teller | C |
Told his tales of strange adventure | C |
That the feast might be more joyous | A |
That the time might pass more gayly | D |
And the guests be more contented | E |
Sumptuous was the feast Nokomis | A |
Made at Hiawatha's wedding | B |
All the bowls were made of bass wood | F |
White and polished very smoothly | D |
All the spoons of horn of bison | G |
Black and polished very smoothly | D |
She had sent through all the village | H |
Messengers with wands of willow | D |
As a sign of invitation | G |
As a token of the feasting | B |
And the wedding guests assembled | I |
Clad in all their richest raiment | I |
Robes of fur and belts of wampum | J |
Splendid with their paint and plumage | H |
Beautiful with beads and tassels | A |
First they ate the sturgeon Nahma | J |
And the pike the Maskenozha | K |
Caught and cooked by old Nokomis | A |
Then on pemican they feasted | I |
Pemican and buffalo marrow | D |
Haunch of deer and hump of bison | G |
Yellow cakes of the Mondamin | G |
And the wild rice of the river | C |
But the gracious Hiawatha | L |
And the lovely Laughing Water | C |
And the careful old Nokomis | A |
Tasted not the food before them | J |
Only waited on the others | A |
Only served their guests in silence | A |
And when all the guests had finished | I |
Old Nokomis brisk and busy | A |
From an ample pouch of otter | C |
Filled the red stone pipes for smoking | B |
With tobacco from the South land | I |
Mixed with bark of the red willow | D |
And with herbs and leaves of fragrance | A |
Then she said 'O Pau Puk Keewis | A |
Dance for us your merry dances | A |
Dance the Beggar's Dance to please us | A |
That the feast may be more joyous | A |
That the time may pass more gayly | D |
And our guests be more contented ' | M |
Then the handsome Pau Puk Keewis | A |
He the idle Yenadizze | A |
He the merry mischief maker | C |
Whom the people called the Storm Fool | D |
Rose among the guests assembled | I |
Skilled was he in sports and pastimes | A |
In the merry dance of snow shoes | A |
In the play of quoits and ball play | D |
Skilled was he in games of hazard | I |
In all games of skill and hazard | I |
Pugasaing the Bowl and Counters | A |
Kuntassoo the Game of Plum stones | A |
Though the warriors called him Faint Heart | I |
Called him coward Shaugodaya | N |
Idler gambler Yenadizze | A |
Little heeded he their jesting | B |
Little cared he for their insults | A |
For the women and the maidens | A |
Loved the handsome Pau Puk Keewis | A |
He was dressed in shirt of doeskin | G |
White and soft and fringed with ermine | G |
All inwrought with beads of wampum | J |
He was dressed in deer skin leggings | A |
Fringed with hedgehog quills and ermine | G |
And in moccasins of buck skin | G |
Thick with quills and beads embroidered | I |
On his head were plumes of swan's down | G |
On his heels were tails of foxes | A |
In one hand a fan of feathers | A |
And a pipe was in the other | C |
Barred with streaks of red and yellow | D |
Streaks of blue and bright vermilion | G |
Shone the face of Pau Puk Keewis | A |
From his forehead fell his tresses | A |
Smooth and parted like a woman's | A |
Shining bright with oil and plaited | I |
Hung with braids of scented grasses | A |
As among the guests assembled | I |
To the sound of flutes and singing | B |
To the sound of drums and voices | A |
Rose the handsome Pau Puk Keewis | A |
And began his mystic dances | A |
First he danced a solemn measure | C |
Very slow in step and gesture | C |
In and out among the pine trees | A |
Through the shadows and the sunshine | G |
Treading softly like a panther | C |
Then more swiftly and still swifter | C |
Whirling spinning round in circles | A |
Leaping o'er the guests assembled | I |
Eddying round and round the wigwam | J |
Till the leaves went whirling with him | J |
Till the dust and wind together | C |
Swept in eddies round about him | J |
Then along the sandy margin | G |
Of the lake the Big Sea Water | C |
On he sped with frenzied gestures | A |
Stamped upon the sand and tossed it | I |
Wildly in the air around him | J |
Till the wind became a whirlwind | I |
Till the sand was blown and sifted | I |
Like great snowdrifts o'er the landscape | O |
Heaping all the shores with Sand Dunes | A |
Sand Hills of the Nagow Wudjoo | H |
Thus the merry Pau Puk Keewis | A |
Danced his Beggar's Dance to please them | J |
And returning sat down laughing | B |
There among the guests assembled | I |
Sat and fanned himself serenely | D |
With his fan of turkey feathers | A |
Then they said to Chibiabos | A |
To the friend of Hiawatha | L |
To the sweetest of all singers | A |
To the best of all musicians | A |
'Sing to us O Chibiabos | A |
Songs of love and songs of longing | B |
That the feast may be more joyous | A |
That the time may pass more gayly | D |
And our guests be more contented ' | M |
And the gentle Chibiabos | A |
Sang in accents sweet and tender | C |
Sang in tones of deep emotion | G |
Songs of love and songs of longing | B |
Looking still at Hiawatha | L |
Looking at fair Laughing Water | C |
Sang he softly sang in this wise | A |
'Onaway Awake beloved | I |
Thou the wild flower of the forest | I |
Thou the wild bird of the prairie | D |
Thou with eyes so soft and fawn like | B |
'If thou only lookest at me | D |
I am happy I am happy | D |
As the lilies of the prairie | D |
When they feel the dew upon them | J |
'Sweet thy breath is as the fragrance | A |
Of the wild flowers in the morning | B |
As their fragrance is at evening | B |
In the Moon when leaves are falling | B |
'Does not all the blood within me | D |
Leap to meet thee leap to meet thee | D |
As the springs to meet the sunshine | G |
In the Moon when nights are brightest | I |
'Onaway my heart sings to thee | D |
Sings with joy when thou art near me | D |
As the sighing singing branches | A |
In the pleasant Moon of Strawberries | A |
'When thou art not pleased beloved | I |
Then my heart is sad and darkened | I |
As the shining river darkens | A |
When the clouds drop shadows on it | I |
'When thou smilest my beloved | I |
Then my troubled heart is brightened | I |
As in sunshine gleam the ripples | A |
That the cold wind makes in rivers | A |
'Smiles the earth and smile the waters | A |
Smile the cloudless skies above us | A |
But I lose the way of smiling | B |
When thou art no longer near me | D |
'I myself myself behold me | D |
Blood of my beating heart behold me | D |
Oh awake awake beloved | I |
Onaway awake beloved ' | M |
Thus the gentle Chibiabos | A |
Sang his song of love and longing | B |
And Iagoo the great boaster | D |
He the marvellous story teller | D |
He the friend of old Nokomis | A |
Jealous of the sweet musician | G |
Jealous of the applause they gave him | J |
Saw in all the eyes around him | J |
Saw in all their looks and gestures | A |
That the wedding guests assembled | I |
Longed to hear his pleasant stories | A |
His immeasurable falsehoods | A |
Very boastful was Iagoo | B |
Never heard he an adventure | D |
But himself had met a greater | D |
Never any deed of daring | B |
But himself had done a bolder | D |
Never any marvellous story | D |
But himself could tell a stranger | D |
Would you listen to his boasting | B |
Would you only give him credence | A |
No one ever shot an arrow | D |
Half so far and high as he had | I |
Ever caught so many fishes | A |
Ever killed so many reindeer | D |
Ever trapped so many beaver | D |
None could run so fast as he could | I |
None could dive so deep as he could | I |
None could swim so far as he could | I |
None had made so many journeys | A |
None had seen so many wonders | A |
As this wonderful Iagoo | B |
As this marvellous story teller | D |
Thus his name became a by word | I |
And a jest among the people | D |
And whene'er a boastful hunter | D |
Praised his own address too highly | D |
Or a warrior home returning | B |
Talked too much of his achievements | A |
All his hearers cried 'Iagoo | B |
Here's Iagoo come among us ' | M |
He it was who carved the cradle | D |
Of the little Hiawatha | L |
Carved its framework out of linden | G |
Bound it strong with reindeer sinews | A |
He it was who taught him later | D |
How to make his bows and arrows | A |
How to make the bows of ash tree | D |
And the arrows of the oak tree | D |
So among the guests assembled | I |
At my Hiawatha's wedding | B |
Sat Iagoo old and ugly | D |
Sat the marvellous | A |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Song Of Hiawatha Xi: Hiawatha's Wedding-feast poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Best Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow