Song of Hiawatha Themes
Man and the Natural World
There's probably nothing in The Song of Hiawatha you'll notice as much as Longfellow's enthusiasm about nature. Back in 1855, Longfellow was in a good position to see the way that modern technology...
Gender
As a dude writing in 1855, Longfellow was pretty much destined to show many of the gender prejudices that existed during his time (and still persist today). But instead of challenging these prejudi...
Violence
It's safe to say that The Song of Hiawatha is a violent poem. It seems like every few pages we hear about a skull being caved in or a corpse getting picked at by seagulls. For Longfellow, this kind...
Family
With a dead mother and an absent father, Hiawatha has a challenging family life to say the least. Let's not forget that he actually tries to kill his father after finding out that the guy is respon...
Love
In The Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha would be a much less interesting character without the love story that Longfellow weaves into this poem. After all, who wants to read about a guy who's awesome at...