SEC. I.
_Acadia._
The Annotated Edition
SEC. I. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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This is the opening section of Longfellow's epic poem *Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie* (1847), which introduces a story about the Acadian people's forced removal from their homeland in Nova Scotia.
- Themes
- exile, home, memory
§01Quick summary
What this poem is about
This is the opening section of Longfellow's epic poem *Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie* (1847), which introduces a story about the Acadian people's forced removal from their homeland in Nova Scotia. With just one word — "Acadia" — Longfellow evokes the lost paradise that lies at the core of the poem. It acts like a title card before a film, anchoring the setting in your mind before the tragedy begins.
§02Themes
Recurring themes
§03Line by line
Stanza by stanza, with notes
Acadia.
Editor's note
This single word stands alone as the whole text of the section — it refers to the French colonial homeland in present-day Nova Scotia, Canada. Longfellow uses it like ancient poets invoked the Muse. By naming the place before introducing any characters or events, he emphasizes that the land is the true focus of the poem. Everything that follows — love, loss, exile — stems from this one word.
§04Tone & mood
How this poem feels
Solemn and incantatory. A single proper noun holds the weight of a world on the brink of disappearing. There’s no sentimentality yet, just a quiet, almost ceremonial seriousness — akin to reading a name etched into a memorial stone.
§05Symbols & metaphors
Symbols & metaphors
- Acadia
- Acadia is more than just a name; it represents a way of life centered on community, belonging, and innocence — a way of life now threatened by colonial violence. In the poem, it serves as a lost Eden.
- The single word as a section
- Presenting a single word as an entire section acts as a structural symbol. It adds monumental weight to the name, similar to how a gravestone inscription highlights a name, allowing you to appreciate its full significance.
- The title 'SEC. I.'
- The formal, almost bureaucratic label stands in stark contrast to the lyrical word it introduces, suggesting the tension between the official power of the British Crown that expelled the Acadians and the human world it shattered.
§06Historical context
Historical context
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow released *Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie* in 1847. The poem follows the journey of Evangeline Bellefontaine and her fiancé Gabriel, who get separated during the Grand Dérangement — the British expulsion of Acadian French settlers from Nova Scotia between 1755 and 1763. About 10,000 Acadians were forcefully deported, their communities dismantled and families dispersed across the Atlantic. Longfellow drew inspiration from a story shared by his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. Written in English hexameters inspired by Homer and Virgil, the poem quickly became a bestseller and played a crucial role in shaping the Acadian narrative in North America's collective memory. "SEC. I." is the poem's opening section, a single word that names the homeland before the story unfolds.
§07FAQ
Questions readers ask
Longfellow takes a cue from classical epic poetry, where mentioning a location or calling upon a muse at the start lends the subject a sense of reverence. By dedicating a section to 'Acadia,' he invites the reader to pause and reflect on the name — to appreciate the significance of the place before discovering its story.
Acadia (French: *Acadie*) was a French colonial territory that included present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island in Canada. French settlers had inhabited the area since the early 1600s. In the 1750s, the British expelled them during an event called the Grand Dérangement.
The Grand Dérangement, also known as the Great Upheaval, was the forced removal of the Acadian people by British colonial authorities from 1755 to 1763. Thousands of Acadians were loaded onto ships and dispersed to British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as well as to France and other locations. Many lost their lives, and families were torn apart for years, or in some cases, permanently.
*Evangeline* is a narrative poem that tells the story of its title character's quest to find her lost love across the American continent. Longfellow composed it in dactylic hexameter, the same meter found in Homer's *Iliad* and *Odyssey* as well as Virgil's *Aeneid*, intentionally situating an American tale within the framework of ancient epic poetry.
Not exactly — it acts more like a prelude or heading within the broader work. However, pulling it out on its own does highlight something intriguing: Longfellow recognized that the name 'Acadia' held enough emotional and historical weight to be meaningful by itself.
The full poem explores themes of exile, love, memory, home, and sorrow. By naming the homeland in this opening section, it grounds these themes in a tangible, real location—making the poem resonate more as history than as fantasy.
Longfellow's friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, shared a tale he had come across about two Acadian lovers who were torn apart during the expulsion. Longfellow found it compelling because it intertwined a real historical injustice with a classic love story — just the sort of narrative that could resonate with a broad audience while also addressing deeper themes of displacement and loss.
*Evangeline* became a huge success in 1847, quickly going through several printings. It influenced how generations of Americans and Canadians viewed the Acadian story, and it continues to be one of the most popular long poems in American literary history.
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