The Song Of Hiawatha Xviii: The Death Of Kwasind Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBBACADEFGAAGAAAGHA GCIBBJBBBABDDHDKKBAC BDGKKHHGHGBCGAGAHGJL HBBHGAAABBAHKBBGMAAB AAHDABDBHABGBHAABAJD ADHCBGGABGBBHCBBBGBNFar and wide among the nations | A |
Spread the name and fame of Kwasind | B |
No man dared to strive with Kwasind | B |
No man could compete with Kwasind | B |
But the mischievous Puk Wudjies | A |
They the envious Little People | C |
They the fairies and the pygmies | A |
Plotted and conspired against him | D |
'If this hateful Kwasind ' said they | E |
'If this great outrageous fellow | F |
Goes on thus a little longer | G |
Tearing everything he touches | A |
Rending everything to pieces | A |
Filling all the world with wonder | G |
What becomes of the Puk Wudjies | A |
Who will care for the Puk Wudjies | A |
He will tread us down like mushrooms | A |
Drive us all into the water | G |
Give our bodies to be eaten | H |
By the wicked Nee ba naw baigs | A |
By the Spirits of the water | G |
So the angry Little People | C |
All conspired against the Strong Man | I |
All conspired to murder Kwasind | B |
Yes to rid the world of Kwasind | B |
The audacious overbearing | J |
Heartless haughty dangerous Kwasind | B |
Now this wondrous strength of Kwasind | B |
In his crown alone was seated | B |
In his crown too was his weakness | A |
There alone could he be wounded | B |
Nowhere else could weapon pierce him | D |
Nowhere else could weapon harm him | D |
Even there the only weapon | H |
That could wound him that could slay him | D |
Was the seed cone of the pine tree | K |
Was the blue cone of the fir tree | K |
This was Kwasind's fatal secret | B |
Known to no man among mortals | A |
But the cunning Little People | C |
The Puk Wudjies knew the secret | B |
Knew the only way to kill him | D |
So they gathered cones together | G |
Gathered seed cones of the pine tree | K |
Gathered blue cones of the fir tree | K |
In the woods by Taquamenaw | H |
Brought them to the river's margin | H |
Heaped them in great piles together | G |
Where the red rocks from the margin | H |
Jutting overhang the river | G |
There they lay in wait for Kwasind | B |
The malicious Little People | C |
T was an afternoon in Summer | G |
Very hot and still the air was | A |
Very smooth the gliding river | G |
Motionless the sleeping shadows | A |
Insects glistened in the sunshine | H |
Insects skated on the water | G |
Filled the drowsy air with buzzing | J |
With a far resounding war cry | L |
Down the river came the Strong Man | H |
In his birch canoe came Kwasind | B |
Floating slowly down the current | B |
Of the sluggish Taquamenaw | H |
Very languid with the weather | G |
Very sleepy with the silence | A |
From the overhanging branches | A |
From the tassels of the birch trees | A |
Soft the Spirit of Sleep descended | B |
By his airy hosts surrounded | B |
His invisible attendants | A |
Came the Spirit of Sleep Nepahwin | H |
Like a burnished Dush kwo ne she | K |
Like a dragon fly he hovered | B |
O'er the drowsy head of Kwasind | B |
To his ear there came a murmur | G |
As of waves upon a sea shore | M |
As of far off tumbling waters | A |
As of winds among the pine trees | A |
And he felt upon his forehead | B |
Blows of little airy war clubs | A |
Wielded by the slumbrous legions | A |
Of the Spirit of Sleep Nepahwin | H |
As of some one breathing on him | D |
At the first blow of their war clubs | A |
Fell a drowsiness on Kwasind | B |
At the second blow they smote him | D |
Motionless his paddle rested | B |
At the third before his vision | H |
Reeled the landscape Into darkness | A |
Very sound asleep was Kwasind | B |
So he floated down the river | G |
Like a blind man seated upright | B |
Floated down the Taquamenaw | H |
Underneath the trembling birch trees | A |
Underneath the wooded headlands | A |
Underneath the war encampment | B |
Of the pygmies the Puk Wudjies | A |
There they stood all armed and waiting | J |
Hurled the pine cones down upon him | D |
Struck him on his brawny shoulders | A |
On his crown defenceless struck him | D |
'Death to Kwasind ' was the sudden | H |
War cry of the Little People | C |
And he sideways swayed and tumbled | B |
Sideways fell into the river | G |
Plunged beneath the sluggish water | G |
Headlong as an otter plunges | A |
And the birch canoe abandoned | B |
Drifted empty down the river | G |
Bottom upward swerved and drifted | B |
Nothing more was seen of Kwasind | B |
But the memory of the Strong Man | H |
Lingered long among the people | C |
And whenever through the forest | B |
Raged and roared the wintry tempest | B |
And the branches tossed and troubled | B |
Creaked and groaned and split asunder | G |
'Kwasind ' cried they 'that is Kwasind | B |
He is gathering in his fire wood ' | N |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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