Basil asks if he has any news about the English, and Father Leblanc tells an old and familiar tale of how God redeemed a young woman who was to die unjustly.
He ends his story and officiates the marriage of Gabriel and Evangeline, blessing the young lovers. The evening passes happily, and Basil and Gabriel depart a few hours later. After they leave Evangeline works on her dower, which is linen and other precious woven-stuffs. As she sleeps Gabriel watches below her window. The next day the sun rises on the harmonious village.
People throng the streets, laughing and talking pleasantly. They gather to celebrate the marriage; music fills the air and people dance merrily. Suddenly a drum beats loudly and English soldiers march from their ships to the church where the revelers are gathered. The commander silences the clanging drums and speaks to the crowd, telling them that all of their lands and cattle and dwellings are henceforth forfeited to the Crown and they will be expelled from the land and transported to other provinces.
Like a gathering storm, the people break out into sorrow and fury. Basil curses the English and is thrown to the ground. The news spreads from village to village, accompanied by wails and fears. Evangeline is affected as well, and eventually wanders back into the village and peers into the now-silent church.
She calls for Gabriel but he does not answer. When she returns home she finds herself alone there as well, and everything seems terrifying and dreary. Only the thunder and lightning reminding her of God in heaven soothes her soul. Guards march along with them and the mood is sorrowful. Evangeline finds Gabriel and they clasp each other, promising to stay true. All is disorderly and tumultuous on the shore, and family members are separated from one another.
Gabriel and Basil are put on a different ship than Evangeline and her father. After they depart, those who are left on shore have to remain for the night. The priest moves from fire to fire to console the Acadians. He sits with Evangeline and the two cry together. Suddenly a red light and curling strands of smoke appear in the distance. The wind brings bits of burning thatch down to the beach, and the Acadians realize in horror that their village is burning.
A clamor arises as people wail and animals run amok. Evangeline glances at her father and sees that he has died. She swoons over him. In the morning she tells those gathered around him that he ought to be buried here by the sea.
Following this, the loading of the ships begins again. Among them is a maiden who waits patiently. She is lovely and young but careworn. Her fever of love carries her about, sometimes leading her to churchyards and gravestones and to people who tell her that yes, they have seen Gabriel but he has gone to the prairie or has gone to Louisiana.
One May a band of Acadian exiles, including Evangeline and Father Felician, travel down the Mississippi past Ohio searching for their kin. They glide by the cottages of slaves, lagoons, somber forests, and wavy mosses.
The land is silent and dreamlike, and their hearts are filled with foreboding. Evangeline, though, is sustained by a vision that Gabriel is near. The boat sails on through the gloom.
One oarsman blows his bugle, breaking up the silence. No one replies except for the crane and the alligator. Soon after the settlement of Halifax trouble began between the rival colonists. Whatever the reasons were for their decision and the details seem to be debated even today the British rounded up all the French Acadians and forced them into exile, burning their village to boot. Our Evangeline was newly betrothed to Gabriel Lajeunesse, but because the tide went out during the evacuation she had to stay on the beach with her father while Gabriel and his father were put on a ship.
So the lovers were separated, and the rest of the poem follows the wanderings of Evangeline while she searches for Gabriel, whom she has never forgotten and will always love.
Here is where my jumbled thoughts really start. On the surface, Evangeline is a loyal young woman, who wants only to be reunited with her true love Gabriel.
So she goes off searching for him, and we think she will find him a time or two, but he is always a week or so ahead of her. She is impulsive, rushing off to the north country when she hears a rumor that he has a hunter's lodge in Michigan, instead of waiting longer at the mission where she had already spent over a year in hopes he would return.
But of course when she arrives the lodge is empty and she continues her wanderings. It was not until I finished reading that I realized the other layer involved here.
Our loyal Evangeline represents all of the exiles, and her search for Gabriel is really an exile's longing for their former home. When a person is forced away from a place, that place becomes sacred to them.
Looking at Evangeline herself as simply a woman, I was mad at her for spending her entire life running obsessively after a ghost of a memory.
But looking at her as the symbol of the French Acadian people who were torn from their homes and thrown out into the cruel world to sink or swim however they could, I was able to understand that obsessed desire to reclaim the past.
I still do not necessarily admire it, however. It is not possible or healthy to go back in time, to recreate what once was. Remember the magic, yes. Become obsessed over it, no. I dawdled a bit while reading, as usual with poetry, because I kept savoring the prelude, which begins with these noble lines: This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest. I had avoided Longfellow since school days, remembering the torture of being forced to read him when I was interested in so many other things. But I was pleasantly surprised at the loveliness of this poem, and how easy it was to read.
I certainly will be reading more of his work, and hopefully more about the history of Nova Scotia and Canada as well. It is amazing that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow could put so much into a 52 page poem. There is the love story, of course, and the themes of devotion and persistence, but there is also faith, forgiveness, the cruelties of war, injustice, extreme loss, strength of character, and reclamation.
The descriptive quality of his poetry is mesmerizing. I felt I could see the Acadian village, the Louisiana bayou and the western mountains. Does this not describe the spread of an epidemic perfectly: And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September, Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow, So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural margin, Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence.
You can both feel the spreading of the disease and in an eerie way, see it. I read this once, long ago, when I was a girl. Then it was just the love story that I came away with. It was like reading Romeo and Juliet as a teenager. This time, I left the poem with so much more! It's been more years than I wish to count since I first read this. While in Maine across the bay from Nova Scotia recently, I felt the urge to read it again. I'm glad I did. It's much easier to read than I remember I'm sure that's because I was so young when I did and besides being a satisfying story of undying, tragic love; it's full of wonderful descriptions of several vastly different areas of North America, including my home state of Louisiana before it was Louisiana.
I was amazed by how touching this historical epic poem was. As I began to read it, I was fascinated with even the simplest ideas in the book. Longfellow has a nice way of describing every little thing so eloquently and in such precise details. It has such imagery! And I can't forget to mention how heartbreaking yet beautiful the loyalty and love of Evangeline and Gabriel was. Though their homes burned, and their love separated, it did not cease to exist- despite these hardships!
She enlists in the Montfortan military and is assigned to guard duty, particularly in the premier's residence. She becomes Montfort's top diplomat and helps with the reconstruction of the Nortan States.
Evangeline pushes Mare and Cal together once again so that they can be together. Evangeline is perceived as cold-hearted and cruel to almost everyone. She is sharp-tongued and speaks her mind, only holding her tongue around her parents.
She is proud, stubborn and fights for what she wants. She is incredibly loyal and affectionate to those she holds dear, particularly Ptolemus and Elane, though showing affection does not come naturally to her. Evangeline is ruthless, impatient and does not like to show her emotions. It means something is better than [her], or [her] blood, or [her] homeland. Evangeline is also very smart and good at strategizing. Evangeline herself states that she was groomed since a young age to marry royalty, regardless if she loves them or not.
While she is accepting of this fate, she later changes her mind when she learns of the possibility of a different fate in Montfort. She is eventually able to rebel against her parents in order to secure her own happiness.
Evangeline goes through a lot of growth as a person. While she maintains her personality, she grows less discriminatory against Reds and after abdicating from the throne to the Kingdom of the Rift, she wholeheartedly accepts Montfort as her home.
Evangeline has long silver hair and cold, charcoal-black eyes, as is typical of members of House Samos. Evangeline has a sharp nose and often has a cruel smirk on her face, especially when looking at someone she perceives as a threat or weak.
Her teeth are described as being sharp and white. Evangeline is incredibly beautiful and has the same porcelain skin and eyes as her mother. She also shares several East Asian features with her mother. Evangeline is a powerful magnetron , meaning she can manipulate and control metal. She is a fierce and nimble fighter as well. She almost always wears clothing that is made of metal and she uses her ability to change her outfit while wearing it. For example, she will make a dress shift into battle armor.
Evangeline is closest with her older brother, Ptolemus. They are four years apart and very protective of each other. He keeps a close eye on her, serving as both her escort and guardian. They have a strong understanding of each other and are willing to do anything for one another. The two siblings can be honest with each other as they can't be with anyone else.
Ptolemus marries Elane so that Evangeline and Elane can stay close to each other. Evangeline calls Ptolemus "Tolly," while he calls her "Evie. Elane and Evangeline are lovers. Evangeline originally planned to make Elane her consort after her marriage to Cal. However, when Elara Merandus and Maven take the throne and Cal is cast out as a traitor and murderer of his father, King Tiberias Calore VI , her plans are forced to change.
While she is engaged to marry Maven, she and Elane continue their relationship behind closed doors.
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