A Study of Longfellow and Akuwuwu's Native American Writing from Comparative Perspective

HE Yue,LU Jie

doi:10.13189/lls.2020.080502

Abstract

Although American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Chinese Yi ethnic poet Akuwuwu are in different eras and cultural backgrounds, both of them express deep humanistic care for Native American culture in the Song of Hiawatha and Coyote Traces. This paper firstly discusses some shared views on the Native American by the two poets, such as religious beliefs, planting culture and handicraft. Besides those similarities, this paper also elaborates some differences embodied in their poems, such as the characterization of typical Native American individual and their different understandings of Native Americans' attitudes towards foreign culture. Through a comparative study of the similarities and differences of the Native American writings by the two poets, this paper finds that Longfellow, given his times, looked at American Indians from a WASP perspective, whereas Akuwuwu, given his ethnic minority background, observed American Indians from an ethnic minority's perspective. By analysis of the reasons for their similar and different Native American writings, this paper advocates the exchanges of heterogeneous cultures based on a world cultural consciousness from an objective and equal attitude.

Highlights

The Song of Hiawatha is a national epic written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote The song of Hiawatha on the basis of the Finnish national epic Kalevala and his own imagination aroused by Greek and Roman myths and the Bible, while Akuwuwu’s Coyote Traces is based on ethnic fieldwork of Native American’ life and his own experience as a member of ethnic minority in China
In the opening chapter of The Song of Hiawatha, the peace pipe mentioned that the Lord of Life created a pipe near the river and lit the pipe, and the smoke communicated with the Spirits

Summary

Introduction

The Song of Hiawatha is a national epic written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The content of the epic is a narration of the history and culture of the Native American. The purpose of it is to reconstruct the origins of Native Americans through the description of the birth of the national hero Hiawatha and his brilliant achievements for America. Longfellow created this masterpiece to express his praise and deep sympathy for Native Americans. Coyote Traces records Chinese Yi poet Akuwuwu’s poetic sojourn in America. Akuwuwu mainly wrote about the history and living conditions of Native Americans in North America, especially recorded what Native American civilization had experienced from a cross-cultural perspective. This thesis explores the similarities and differences of Native American images shaped by the two poets through a comparative perspective

Similarities of the Native American Images between Longfellow and Akuwuwu

Religious Faith

Farming Culture

Handicraft

The Reasons for the Similarities in Native American Images

Differences of the Native American Images between Longfellow and Akuwuwu

Individual Characters as Representatives of Native American

Hiawatha in Longfellow’s Works

Coyote in Akuwuwu’s Works

Attitude toward Foreign Cultures

Native American’s Assimilation of Other Cultures in Longfellow’s Works

The Reasons for the Differences in Native American Images