Hiawatha-Speak

I sloped off early from work yesterday afternoon, and while driving home listened to part of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha being read (brilliantly) by Geoffrey Whitehead on Radio 4. Everyone remembers the haunting rhythm of the thing:

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

Apparently the 8-8-8-8-8 meter was nicked from the sacred Finnish epic poem Kalevala which in English goes like this:

In primeval times, a maiden,
Beauteous Daughter of the Ether,
Passed for ages her existence
In the great expanse of heaven,
O'er the prairies yet enfolded.
Wearisome the maiden growing,
Her existence sad and hopeless,
Thus alone to live for ages
In the infinite expanses
Of the air above the sea-foam,
In the far outstretching spaces,
In a solitude of ether,
She descended to the ocean,
Waves her coach, and waves her pillow.

Maybe not so gripping as Hiawatha, but still there’s the lilting rhyme again which Mike Oldfield also used in his 1978 album Incantations with Maddy Prior singing Hiawatha.

Like a popular jingle it sticks in your head. So much so that I woke up this morning thinking in Hiawatha-ese:

Ipswich-Norwich so distressing,
In Coca-Cola’s football league,
Sunday’s game, a one-nil beating,
The goal from Darren Huckerby.
Tearful mother, distraught brother
Angry at the ref’s decision
Sito shown the unfair red card.
Then on Tuesday, lowly Grimsby
Smash the smug and smarmy Spurs,
Huge delight for Haddock-lovers.
A single minute from full time,
Kalala strikes a goal sublime.
Wednesday’s treat, more the pity
Ain’t good news for proud Man. City,
Doncaster Rovers this time up
Show penalties can win the Cup.

Anyhow, I'd better get back to my wigwam and smoke a pipe of peace....