The Famine

Quiz: "The Famine" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. Recall – Form & Structure: From which larger work is "The Famine" taken, and approximately when was that work published?

1. Recall – Metre: What distinctive metrical pattern does Longfellow use throughout "The Famine," and from which non-English literary tradition did he borrow it?

1. Recall – Key Image: How are Famine and Fever introduced into Hiawatha's wigwam, and what Ojibwe names does Longfellow give them?

1. Recall – Symbol: What action does Hiawatha perform at Minnehaha's grave throughout the night, and what is the spiritual significance of that act according to the analysis?

1. Comprehension – Character: What two contradictory qualities does Hiawatha display during his desperate hunt — one showing emotional resolve and one showing the physical extremity of the cold?

1. Comprehension – Narrative: Why is Hiawatha described as returning "empty-handed, heavy-hearted," and what tragic event has occurred in his absence?

1. Comprehension – Symbol: When Hiawatha prays to Gitche Manito and the forest echoes back only his wife's name, what two meanings does the analysis suggest this moment carries?

1. Analysis – Tone: The analysis describes the poem's tone as "mournful and ceremonial." How does Longfellow's use of repetition and trochaic rhythm reinforce this tone, according to the analysis?

1. Analysis – Contrast: Explain the significance of the summer memory flashback that appears during Hiawatha's walk through the winter forest. What thematic or emotional purpose does this contrast serve?

1. Analysis – Context & Criticism: The poem was celebrated for introducing many Americans to Native American mythology, yet it has also attracted criticism. What specific concern does the analysis raise about Longfellow's portrayal of Indigenous culture?

Answer Key

1. "The Famine" is a canto from Longfellow's epic The Song of Hiawatha, published in 1855.

1. Longfellow uses trochaic tetrameter — a four-beat, stress-first rhythm — borrowed from the Finnish national epic Kalevala.

1. Famine and Fever are portrayed as uninvited guests who barge into the wigwam and take Minnehaha's place; they are given the Ojibwe names Bukadawin (Famine) and Ahkosewin (Fever).

1. Hiawatha lights a burial fire four times on Minnehaha's grave; rooted in Ojibwe spiritual practice, the fire is meant to guide the soul's journey to the afterlife.

1. Hiawatha displays a "stony firmness" of expression (emotional resolve), yet his sweat freezes before it can fall (physical extremity of the cold).

1. His hunt has failed to produce food, and while he was away, Minnehaha has died — leaving him a failure both as a provider and as a husband through no fault of his own.

1. The echo symbolises the silence of a god who does not answer Hiawatha's prayer, and it simultaneously suggests that the forest itself is warning Hiawatha that Minnehaha is the one he is truly about to lose.

1. The heavy repetition gives the poem a chant-like, incantatory quality, while the trochaic rhythm creates a steady, falling beat — both mirror the relentless, unstoppable nature of the famine itself and maintain a dignified, ceremonial grief rather than open hysteria.

1. The summer memory — birds singing, streams bubbling, fragrant air — stands in stark contrast to the frozen, silent winter landscape, deepening the sense of irreversible loss and reinforcing the theme that nature, once nurturing and joyful, has become hostile and deadly.

1. The analysis notes that while the poem was widely popular, it has been criticised for romanticising and oversimplifying Indigenous cultures by filtering them through a European literary perspective.