The Song Of Hiawatha - Xii - The Son Of The Evening Star Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDEBFABGDABEEAGEH EEIAEABIIEAIBBICEEDI IIEIIIJAGKIEDDHEAFEH IDBLHIBMEAIIIKGIIAAA DGIMBBNOMEBIEGIGEPQN GNHEEIGEDEEIEBBBEBPI ARADAIEIEDEEESBIIBIE LIGILEEEIBHBEBBBDEIM IEITTIEGGAAIEIIEIBRB SIKIIFIIEIFEEIEIEPEE EIDBBEIBIEABBHIBBIUB IMVEBAILEFILNEDGGLBI EEDNLKEMEABBRBGIBBEK IBIIEEAHBFBGGIEDKDHE AAEDAAIIEEBAIEHBIIEE IGEIBGIBABIGUIBIEEEI EPEWDIIEEABBIIABIDDE EKDKHHDEEEDEEEDKKADA ABDEEKDAIAIEEEECan it be the sun descending | A |
O'er the level plain of water | B |
Or the Red Swan floating flying | A |
Wounded by the magic arrow | C |
Staining all the waves with crimson | D |
With the crimson of its life blood | E |
Filling all the air with splendor | B |
With the splendor of its plumage | F |
Yes it is the sun descending | A |
Sinking down into the water | B |
All the sky is stained with purple | G |
All the water flushed with crimson | D |
No it is the Red Swan floating | A |
Diving down beneath the water | B |
To the sky its wings are lifted | E |
With its blood the waves are reddened | E |
Over it the Star of Evening | A |
Melts and trembles through the purple | G |
Hangs suspended in the twilight | E |
No it is a bead of wampum | H |
On the robes of the Great Spirit | E |
As he passes through the twilight | E |
Walks in silence through the heavens | I |
This with joy beheld Iagoo | A |
And he said in haste Behold it | E |
See the sacred Star of Evening | A |
You shall hear a tale of wonder | B |
Hear the story of Osseo | I |
Son of the Evening Star Osseo | I |
Once in days no more remembered | E |
Ages nearer the beginning | A |
When the heavens were closer to us | I |
And the Gods were more familiar | B |
In the North land lived a hunter | B |
With ten young and comely daughters | I |
Tall and lithe as wands of willow | C |
Only Oweenee the youngest | E |
She the wilful and the wayward | E |
She the silent dreamy maiden | D |
Was the fairest of the sisters | I |
All these women married warriors | I |
Married brave and haughty husbands | I |
Only Oweenee the youngest | E |
Laughed and flouted all her lovers | I |
All her young and handsome suitors | I |
And then married old Osseo | I |
Old Osseo poor and ugly | J |
Broken with age and weak with coughing | A |
Always coughing like a squirrel | G |
Ah but beautiful within him | K |
Was the spirit of Osseo | I |
From the Evening Star descended | E |
Star of Evening Star of Woman | D |
Star of tenderness and passion | D |
All its fire was in his bosom | H |
All its beauty in his spirit | E |
All its mystery in his being | A |
All its splendor in his language | F |
And her lovers the rejected | E |
Handsome men with belts of wampum | H |
Handsome men with paint and feathers | I |
Pointed at her in derision | D |
Followed her with jest and laughter | B |
But she said 'I care not for you | L |
Care not for your belts of wampum | H |
Care not for your paint and feathers | I |
Care not for your jests and laughter | B |
I am happy with Osseo ' | M |
Once to some great feast invited | E |
Through the damp and dusk of evening | A |
Walked together the ten sisters | I |
Walked together with their husbands | I |
Slowly followed old Osseo | I |
With fair Oweenee beside him | K |
All the others chatted gayly | G |
These two only walked in silence | I |
At the western sky Osseo | I |
Gazed intent as if imploring | A |
Often stopped and gazed imploring | A |
At the trembling Star of Evening | A |
At the tender Star of Woman | D |
And they heard him murmur softly | G |
'Ah showain nemeshin Nosa | I |
Pity pity me my father ' | M |
'Listen ' said the eldest sister | B |
'He is praying to his father | B |
What a pity that the old man | N |
Does not stumble in the pathway | O |
Does not break his neck by falling ' | M |
And they laughed till all the forest | E |
Rang with their unseemly laughter | B |
On their pathway through the woodlands | I |
Lay an oak by storms uprooted | E |
Lay the great trunk of an oak tree | G |
Buried half in leaves and mosses | I |
Mouldering crumbling huge and hollow | G |
And Osseo when he saw it | E |
Gave a shout a cry of anguish | P |
Leaped into its yawning cavern | Q |
At one end went in an old man | N |
Wasted wrinkled old and ugly | G |
From the other came a young man | N |
Tall and straight and strong and handsome | H |
Thus Osseo was transfigured | E |
Thus restored to youth and beauty | E |
But alas for good Osseo | I |
And for Oweenee the faithful | G |
Strangely too was she transfigured | E |
Changed into a weak old woman | D |
With a staff she tottered onward | E |
Wasted wrinkled old and ugly | E |
And the sisters and their husbands | I |
Laughed until the echoing forest | E |
Rang with their unseemly laughter | B |
But Osseo turned not from her | B |
Walked with slower step beside her | B |
Took her hand as brown and withered | E |
As an oak leaf is in Winter | B |
Called her sweetheart Nenemoosha | P |
Soothed her with soft words of kindness | I |
Till they reached the lodge of feasting | A |
Till they sat down in the wigwam | R |
Sacred to the Star of Evening | A |
To the tender Star of Woman | D |
Wrapt in visions lost in dreaming | A |
At the banquet sat Osseo | I |
All were merry all were happy | E |
All were joyous but Osseo | I |
Neither food nor drink he tasted | E |
Neither did he speak nor listen | D |
But as one bewildered sat he | E |
Looking dreamily and sadly | E |
First at Oweenee then upward | E |
At the gleaming sky above them | S |
Then a voice was heard a whisper | B |
Coming from the starry distance | I |
Coming from the empty vastness | I |
Low and musical and tender | B |
And the voice said 'O Osseo | I |
O my son my best beloved | E |
Broken are the spells that bound you | L |
All the charms of the magicians | I |
All the magic powers of evil | G |
Come to me ascend Osseo | I |
'Taste the food that stands before you | L |
It is blessed and enchanted | E |
It has magic virtues in it | E |
It will change you to a spirit | E |
All your bowls and all your kettles | I |
Shall be wood and clay no longer | B |
But the bowls be changed to wampum | H |
And the kettles shall be silver | B |
They shall shine like shells of scarlet | E |
Like the fire shall gleam and glimmer | B |
'And the women shall no longer | B |
Bear the dreary doom of labor | B |
But be changed to birds and glisten | D |
With the beauty of the starlight | E |
Painted with the dusky splendors | I |
Of the skies and clouds of evening ' | M |
What Osseo heard as whispers | I |
What as words he comprehended | E |
Was but music to the others | I |
Music as of birds afar off | T |
Of the whippoorwill afar off | T |
Of the lonely Wawonaissa | I |
Singing in the darksome forest | E |
Then the lodge began to tremble | G |
Straight began to shake and tremble | G |
And they felt it rising rising | A |
Slowly through the air ascending | A |
From the darkness of the tree tops | I |
Forth into the dewy starlight | E |
Till it passed the topmost branches | I |
And behold the wooden dishes | I |
All were changed to shells of scarlet | E |
And behold the earthen kettles | I |
All were changed to bowls of silver | B |
And the roof poles of the wigwam | R |
Were as glittering rods of silver | B |
And the roof of bark upon them | S |
As the shining shards of beetles | I |
Then Osseo gazed around him | K |
And he saw the nine fair sisters | I |
All the sisters and their husbands | I |
Changed to birds of various plumage | F |
Some were jays and some were magpies | I |
Others thrushes others blackbirds | I |
And they hopped and sang and twittered | E |
Perked and fluttered all their feathers | I |
Strutted in their shining plumage | F |
And their tails like fans unfolded | E |
Only Oweenee the youngest | E |
Was not changed but sat in silence | I |
Wasted wrinkled old and ugly | E |
Looking sadly at the others | I |
Till Osseo gazing upward | E |
Gave another cry of anguish | P |
Such a cry as he had uttered | E |
By the oak tree in the forest | E |
Then returned her youth and beauty | E |
And her soiled and tattered garments | I |
Were transformed to robes of ermine | D |
And her staff became a feather | B |
Yes a shining silver feather | B |
And again the wigwam trembled | E |
Swayed and rushed through airy currents | I |
Through transparent cloud and vapor | B |
And amid celestial splendors | I |
On the Evening Star alighted | E |
As a snow flake falls on snow flake | A |
As a leaf drops on a river | B |
As the thistledown on water | B |
Forth with cheerful words of welcome | H |
Came the father of Osseo | I |
He with radiant locks of silver | B |
He with eyes serene and tender | B |
And he said 'My son Osseo | I |
Hang the cage of birds you bring there | U |
Hang the cage with rods of silver | B |
And the birds with glistening feathers | I |
At the doorway of my wigwam ' | M |
At the door he hung the bird cage | V |
And they entered in and gladly | E |
Listened to Osseo's father | B |
Ruler of the Star of Evening | A |
As he said 'O my Osseo | I |
I have had compassion on you | L |
Given you back your youth and beauty | E |
Into birds of various plumage | F |
Changed your sisters and their husbands | I |
Changed them thus because they mocked you | L |
In the figure of the old man | N |
In that aspect sad and wrinkled | E |
Could not see your heart of passion | D |
Could not see your youth immortal | G |
Only Oweenee the faithful | G |
Saw your naked heart and loved you | L |
'In the lodge that glimmers yonder | B |
In the little star that twinkles | I |
Through the vapors on the left hand | E |
Lives the envious Evil Spirit | E |
The Wabeno the magician | D |
Who transformed you to an old man | N |
Take heed lest his beams fall on you | L |
For the rays he darts around him | K |
Are the power of his enchantment | E |
Are the arrows that he uses ' | M |
Many years in peace and quiet | E |
On the peaceful Star of Evening | A |
Dwelt Osseo with his father | B |
Many years in song and flutter | B |
At the doorway of the wigwam | R |
Hung the cage with rods of silver | B |
And fair Oweenee the faithful | G |
Bore a son unto Osseo | I |
With the beauty of his mother | B |
With the courage of his father | B |
And the boy grew up and prospered | E |
And Osseo to delight him | K |
Made him little bows and arrows | I |
Opened the great cage of silver | B |
And let loose his aunts and uncles | I |
All those birds with glossy feathers | I |
For his little son to shoot at | E |
Round and round they wheeled and darted | E |
Filled the Evening Star with music | A |
With their songs of joy and freedom | H |
Filled the Evening Star with splendor | B |
With the fluttering of their plumage | F |
Till the boy the little hunter | B |
Bent his bow and shot an arrow | G |
Shot a swift and fatal arrow | G |
And a bird with shining feathers | I |
At his feet fell wounded sorely | E |
But O wondrous transformation | D |
'T was no bird he saw before him | K |
'T was a beautiful young woman | D |
With the arrow in her bosom | H |
When her blood fell on the planet | E |
On the sacred Star of Evening | A |
Broken was the spell of magic | A |
Powerless was the strange enchantment | E |
And the youth the fearless bowman | D |
Suddenly felt himself descending | A |
Held by unseen hands but sinking | A |
Downward through the empty spaces | I |
Downward through the clouds and vapors | I |
Till he rested on an island | E |
On an island green and grassy | E |
Yonder in the Big Sea Water | B |
After him he saw descending | A |
All the birds with shining feathers | I |
Fluttering falling wafted downward | E |
Like the painted leaves of Autumn | H |
And the lodge with poles of silver | B |
With its roof like wings of beetles | I |
Like the shining shards of beetles | I |
By the winds of heaven uplifted | E |
Slowly sank upon the island | E |
Bringing back the good Osseo | I |
Bringing Oweenee the faithful | G |
Then the birds again transfigured | E |
Reassumed the shape of mortals | I |
Took their shape but not their stature | B |
They remained as Little People | G |
Like the pygmies the Puk Wudjies | I |
And on pleasant nights of Summer | B |
When the Evening Star was shining | A |
Hand in hand they danced together | B |
On the island's craggy headlands | I |
On the sand beach low and level | G |
Still their glittering lodge is seen there | U |
On the tranquil Summer evenings | I |
And upon the shore the fisher | B |
Sometimes hears their happy voices | I |
Sees them dancing in the starlight | E |
When the story was completed | E |
When the wondrous tale was ended | E |
Looking round upon his listeners | I |
Solemnly Iagoo added | E |
There are great men I have known such | P |
Whom their people understand not | E |
Whom they even make a jest of | W |
Scoff and jeer at in derision | D |
From the story of Osseo | I |
Let us learn the fate of jesters | I |
All the wedding guests delighted | E |
Listened to the marvellous story | E |
Listened laughing and applauding | A |
And they whispered to each other | B |
Does he mean himself I wonder | B |
And are we the aunts and uncles | I |
Then again sang Chibiabos | I |
Sang a song of love and longing | A |
In those accents sweet and tender | B |
In those tones of pensive sadness | I |
Sang a maiden's lamentation | D |
For her lover her Algonquin | D |
When I think of my beloved | E |
Ah me think of my beloved | E |
When my heart is thinking of him | K |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
Ah me when I parted from him | K |
Round my neck he hung the wampum | H |
As a pledge the snow white wampum | H |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
I will go with you he whispered | E |
Ah me to your native country | E |
Let me go with you he whispered | E |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
Far away away I answered | E |
Very far away I answered | E |
Ah me is my native country | E |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
When I looked back to behold him | K |
Where we parted to behold him | K |
After me he still was gazing | A |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
By the tree he still was standing | A |
By the fallen tree was standing | A |
That had dropped into the water | B |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
When I think of my beloved | E |
Ah me think of my beloved | E |
When my heart is thinking of him | K |
O my sweetheart my Algonquin | D |
Such was Hiawatha's Wedding | A |
Such the dance of Pau Puk Keewis | I |
Such the story of Iagoo | A |
Such the songs of Chibiabos | I |
Thus the wedding banquet ended | E |
And the wedding guests departed | E |
Leaving Hiawatha happy | E |
With the night and Minnehaha | E |
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 - Xii - The Son Of The Evening Star poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Best Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow