The Value of Roots :: Poem Poetry Poetic Poems Essays

The Value of RootsThe era of the American Revolution was a time of great nationalism, hope, and unity. People who were once wholly colonists were now citizens of a new and exciting nation. As the years wore on, however, the citizens of the get together States were faced with the reality of building a country. The nation strove to find a place for itself, to become secure against the power of the rest of the world. Industry grew on with the population, but what the new country gained in strength it lost in spirit. Regional tensions emerged as well as burning political issues. In the aftermath of the civil war the still young nation move to regain this nationalism that was once the strength of the country. One area this onset was prominent in was literature. Two poets specifi inspecty sought to find a national mythology by examining what Americans value and why it is necessary to pass it on through tradition. The poems by John Greenleaf Whittier and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are a call for preserving the roots found in the land of America and in the flavour of an American. Longfellows Hiawatha presents the image of an Indian chant about the traditions, history and beauty indwelling in nature. The narrator explains how the birds, trees, mountains and rivers all hold stories of the past.Should you ask where NawadahaFound these breeds so wild and wayward,Found these legends and traditions,I should answer, I should tell you,In the birds-nests of the forest,In the lodges of the beaver,In the hoof-prints of the bison,In the eyry of the eagleBut most importantly the narrator encourages the reader to seek out matchless important story, the song of Hiawatha. Why is this song of Hiawatha so crucial, the reader might ask. The narrator replies render the strain of Hiawatha,Sang his wondrous birth and being,How he prayed and how he fasted,How he loved, and toiled, and suffered,That the tribes of men might prosper,That he might advance his peopleThe brilliance of the past is proclaimed here. One should never forget those that came before him to surface the way. Not only should one not forget but one should learn from it and use the knowledge gained to push into the future.Listen to this simple story,To this Song of Hiawatha...For a while to muse, and ponderOn a half effaced inscription... serious of all the tender pathosOf the here and the Hereafter-