THE CONTRACT was considered almost as binding as a marriage. Remember by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
This excerpt from Longfellow's prose-poem captures a community tradition where a young man is provided with a home, land, and supplies before he receives his chosen partner along with her dowry of livestock.
The poem
this. 260-2. As soon as a young man arrived at the proper age, the community built him a house, broke the land about it, and supplied him with all the necessaries of life for twelve months. Then he received the partner whom he had chosen, and who brought him her portion in flocks. ABBE REYNAL.
This excerpt from Longfellow's prose-poem captures a community tradition where a young man is provided with a home, land, and supplies before he receives his chosen partner along with her dowry of livestock. It resembles an ethnographic note more than a lyric poem, referencing the French historian Abbé Raynal's observations of a society where marriage-like contracts enjoy the support of the entire community. The passage presents love and partnership as publicly endorsed and materially rooted, rather than merely a private romantic sentiment.
Line-by-line
THE CONTRACT was considered almost as binding as a marriage.
As soon as a young man arrived at the proper age, the community built him a house...
Then he received the partner whom he had chosen, and who brought him her portion in flocks.
Tone & mood
The tone feels measured and documentary—similar to a caption beneath a painting. While there's no overt emotion, a subtle admiration lies beneath, suggesting that Longfellow presents this custom as proof that a society can thrive on care and commitment. The restraint is intentional: by allowing the facts to speak for themselves, the passage encourages the reader to appreciate the dignity of the arrangement without being explicitly guided to do so.
Symbols & metaphors
- The house — The house built by the community is more than just a shelter; it represents belonging, readiness, and social support. A man isn’t seen as ready for partnership until the community physically creates the space for it.
- Broken land — Breaking the land around the house opens up new possibilities — turning raw earth into something productive. It ties the couple's future to the fertility and hard work of the land.
- Flocks (the woman's portion) — The livestock the woman brings symbolize her family's stake in the union and her personal economic identity. They are active, breathing assets — not just idle wealth, but something that thrives and needs care, similar to the relationship itself.
Historical context
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was one of the most popular American poets of the nineteenth century, famous for his long narrative poems like *Evangeline* and *The Song of Hiawatha*. This passage serves as a prose epigraph or note, referencing Guillaume-Thomas Raynal (known in English as Abbé Raynal), the French philosopher and historian whose *Histoire des deux Indes* (1770) explored the customs of various societies around the globe. Longfellow had a keen interest in how different cultures approached love, family, and community, often turning to historical and ethnographic sources to shape his poetic reflections. The mention of Raynal situates this passage within the tradition of Enlightenment-era comparative anthropology, where non-European or pre-modern customs were used as lenses to examine Western society—sometimes with criticism, sometimes with admiration.
FAQ
It sits right on the border. Longfellow includes it as an epigraph or explanatory note, and it reads like prose, but its careful rhythm and progression from social contract to intimate union lend it a poetic structure. Consider it a prose poem or a lyric fragment—the distinction between the two was much more fluid in the nineteenth century.
Guillaume-Thomas Raynal (1713–1796) was a French philosopher and historian, widely recognized for his extensive work *Histoire des deux Indes*, which examines European colonialism and the diverse customs of various peoples globally. Longfellow references him to anchor the passage in historical reality and to draw on the credibility of an Enlightenment thinker. This reference also indicates that the custom being described is genuine, rather than a fabrication.
Raynal's original text discusses various societies, and without the broader context of the work this passage comes from, it's tough to identify a specific group. The practices mentioned—building houses as a community, preparing land, and offering livestock as dowries—align with descriptions of multiple Indigenous North American or early colonial communities that Raynal recorded.
To 'break' land refers to plowing or tilling it for the first time, turning over untouched soil to prepare it for farming. This is tough physical work, and the community's collective effort for the young man highlights the importance they place on his transition into adult partnership.
In many pre-industrial societies, livestock served as the main measure of transferable wealth. Flocks of sheep, goats, or cattle could be counted, moved, and traded. A 'portion in flocks' refers to a dowry given in animals instead of coins or land — it indicates that the woman's family has genuine economic status and is investing it in the new household.
That one word, "almost," carries significant meaning. It indicates that formal marriage still had the most legal and social importance in this society, but it also reveals that the community respected pre-marital contracts enough to support them with collective efforts—like building houses, clearing land, and supplying resources. The contract wasn't just a casual promise.
Longfellow often expressed the belief that love and partnership aren't just personal experiences; they are influenced by the community, history, and the environment around us. This passage, depicting a community coming together to create a home for a young couple, aligns perfectly with that perspective.
The passage illustrates the gender assumptions present in both Raynal's and Longfellow's times. The man is portrayed as reaching a 'proper age' and 'receiving' a partner, while the woman is depicted based on what she contributes. However, her 'portion in flocks' provides her with genuine economic agency — she isn't coming empty-handed but as someone investing in the new household.